Lady Black, Lord Potter
by MuggleBeene
Summary: At the reading of Sirius Black's will several shocking revelations leave Harry Potter and Nymphadora Tonks reeling. How will things change for them? And what about that crazy, drunken contract between James Potter and Sirius? What will this mean for Harry and Tonks? AU after Order of the Phoenix. Not part of the Professor Muggle series.
1. A Mere Formality

**Chapter 1: Just a Formality**

_1996_

The sun began creeping through the blinds, slits of light that slowly ran at an angle to the striped duvet. She could feel the light behind her closed eyelids as sleep began to fade. Her breath became deeper and she closed her eyes tighter, hoping against hope that it would be just a dream and she could sleep longer, hold the day at bay for as long as possible, but it was not to be. The light steadily became brighter, an affront to her mood. It should be a dark, gloomy day. That would have been appropriate for the reading of Sirius' will, a dark, rainy, depressing day to match her mood.

With a noise of irritation she kicked the covers towards the end of the bed and slowly made her way into the loo. As she sat there and tried to wake up fully the thoughts of what she had to do that day made her stomach turn. _If I had only been quick enough to take out Bellatrix he'd still be alive..._Shaking her head to clear those thoughts she took care of business, peeled out of her pajamas and started the shower. As the water began warming she glanced over in the mirror. _Damn it, it's the same as Mum's today. _With a slight twitch her hair straightened, turned a muted deep blue and fell down about her shoulders. For a moment she thought about shortening it but let it stay long. As long as it didn't look like _Black_ hair it would work.

Once the shower was finished she wrapped a towel about her torso, went over to the vanity and rummaged through the assorted empty Muggle beer cans and takeaway containers until she found her wand. She'd been slightly pissed when she tossed it over there last night, but needed it to dry her hair. The air began coming out of the end of the wand with quite a bit of force, so after a few calming breaths she tried the spell again; the second time it worked as intended. As the wand did it's work she stepped over a pair of trainers and some dirty clothes and went to her closet, opening the door with her free hand. It took a bit to find what she was looking for, but eventually like the wand it was located. It was stuck at the back of the closet, wadded up and shoved behind a pair of jeans she had forgotten she'd purchased, as the tags from the Muggle secondhand store were still fastened to the belt loops. The formal robe looked...wrong. It was wrong to her, to dress up for Sirius' will reading but her mum had given her strict instructions. Even though her Mum was no longer a 'real' Black there were some things that ol' Andromeda couldn't let go. When she'd shaken out the robe she stopped drying her hair and focused on the robe, casting a slight levitation charm on it and then began a series of cleansing, freshening and ironing charms. It wasn't fashionable in the least, a dark gray robe with no coloured lining or embroidery, but it was well made and from very rich fabric. She knew her mum expected her to wear something appropriate underneath the robe, but she saw a piece of clothing from the corner of her eye, tucked into the back of the closet above a pair of heels she'd bought and worn exactly once. Leaving the robe still levitating she knelt down and pulled out a t-shirt, shook it out and laid it on the bed. It looked just like an ordinary, black t-shirt with nothing displayed on the front but with a quick tap of her wand an image began to spread across, an image of red lips, parted, teeth visible above a tongue that stuck out luridly. With a laugh she dropped the towel, reached down and pulled on the t-shirt. _Sirius, you may be gone but you're not forgotten._

-ooo-

He stood outside of Gringotts, ready to go in and get it over with, just one more reminder that Sirius was gone. They had all been kind to him, of course, especially Molly. She still hovered near him, protectively, and even though part of him wanted to scream at her to leave him the hell alone another part of him just wanted her there. He knew that Molly had insisted with Dumbledore that he be able to stay with them before the reading of Sirius' will, he'd overheard that Floo conversation.

It was while thinking of that inadvertent eavesdropping that they were ushered into Gringotts, the Weasley's a protective cordon around him, as if good intentions and red hair made harmful spells ineffective. Well, they were almost all red-headed, as Hermione's bushy hair bobbed alongside Ginny. They'd all been sent Gringotts letters, they had all arrived at the same time, a separate owl for each letter per Gringotts directive. He'd been playing wizard's chess with Ron when the owls arrived and deposited their letters; Hermione was the first to open hers and as soon as she said 'Sirius' everyone knew what it was, what the letters meant.

"Harry?"

He turned to see Molly give him a weak smile and nod towards the others who were following a goblin towards a door leading off from the main hallway. He nodded quickly and started walking towards her outstretched arm, letting it fall around his shoulders as she leaned over.

"It's ok, dear. This won't take long. Just a formality."

The shadow-filled hallway soon gave way to a very bright doorway; Harry's eyes adjusted slowly, blinking several times, until he finally could see exactly where he was, and more importantly, who else had been called. Unsurprisingly Narcissa Malfoy sat next to her son. For a moment Harry felt like saying 'fuck it all' and pulling out his wand and cursing Draco within an inch of his life but rational thought, not to mention the sight of several sharp goblin weapons hanging ceremonially on the walls, stopped that thought in it's tracks. Dumbledore sat two chairs away from Draco, an obvious buffer between the seats of the Weasleys, Hagrid, Remus Lupin and Hermione. He thought he recognized the woman sitting behind Hermione, but something was off about her. The woman sitting next to her, holding hands with the rather normal looking middle-aged man was obviously a Black, as she looked alarmingly like Bellatrix, but only if Bellatrix wasn't insane and was...well, normal. He quickly shuffled ahead, as pointed by Molly, and took a seat next to Arthur, Molly following directly.

Once everyone was seated a small gong was heard and a goblin walked out from behind a door that had materialized. A desk sat in front of the assembled rows, giving Harry a momentary thought that it was like being in Hogwarts, but the professor was a goblin. He gave himself a quick shake of the head, trying to clear it and pay attention, but it wasn't very successful as he thought of the goblin giving Malfoy a wonderful, painful detention.

"Ahem." The goblin cleared his throat and pulled out a very tiny pair of gold rimmed spectacles from his brocade waistcoat. "Thank you for attending. All named in the will are here, so we will begin. This is the reading of the last will and testament of Lord Sirius Orion Black."

"Point of order."

Every head in the room turned to Narcissa Malfoy. The goblin gave a great sigh and took off his spectacles. "Mrs. Malfoy, these are not court proceedings in the Wizangamot, this is a reading of a will."

Narcissa inclined her head slightly, outwardly a deferential action but exaggerated enough so that everyone could see that the action was a patronizing one. "Thank you for the clarification, but it appears there has been a slight error. Sirius was not Lord Black, and as he was not Lord Black this entire will may be invalid."

Harry glanced at the goblin and saw a grimace appear on the goblin's face, sharp teeth growing visible in something that might have been called a smile in some respect but in reality was quite...scary.

"Mrs. Malfoy, are you questioning the integrity of Gringotts? The will has been verified. Sirius Black was Lord Black of the House of Black at his death." He stopped suddenly and clapped. Almost instantly a goblin appeared at his side, a scroll with a red and gold-striped ribbon tied in a bow in his hand. The goblin handed the scroll to the goblin in the spectacles and left. "I have here in my hand the Scroll of Investiture. As an educated witch I believe you understand that there is no possible manner that this document can be fabricated."

Narcissa gave a slight wave, as if dismissing the whole line of conversation. "Of course, goblin. I..."

"Barkshield." The goblin tapped the scroll in his hands. "My name is Barkshield."

"I apologise, Barkshield, of course I know the magics behind the Scroll of Investiture. My husband's scroll resides in our vault in this very institution. The scroll you have in your hands must be a forgery or some other charmed object because Sirius Black was disowned by his family and by the laws cannot be the Lord Black unless he was reinstated. All the Lord Black would have to do would be to simply reinstate Sirius, by writing, and then he would have been able to become the Lord Black of House Black. Since he was not reinstated then, by law, the Lord Black would become the closest male relative."

Harry felt himself gripping the bottom of his chair, squeezing it tightly, the wood pressing into his fingers. If Draco became Lord Black then he would inherit Grimmauld Place, not to mention all the Galleons in the Black vaults would go right into Voldemort's coffers. As this thought went through his head he heard some angry mutterings behind him but couldn't look away from Malfoy. The arse looked smug!

Barkshield nodded at Narcissa. "Your grasp of the law, Lady Malfoy, is correct. Your assertions regarding Lord Sirius Black are not." He smiled and opened the scroll. "For Lord Sirius Black to have been cast out of the House of Black it would require the order to be written, signed and sealed with the Black ring. Gringotts has on file the documentation that removed Andromeda Tonks nee Black from the House of Black. There is no such documentation for Lord Sirius Black, therefore he was able to take possession of the Black Head of House ring and other assets before his demise. Gringotts followed procedure, contacted Lord Black and once the formalities were completed assisted him in the recording of the will we are about to read. This..." He brandished the Scroll of Investiture as if it was a sword. "...is a certified original, unable to be altered or modified in any way possible. If you wish to read it, Mrs. Malfoy, you may. However, I believe we will retain that for your perusal at a later date." He turned to the seated attendees in front of him on the other side of the room. "This is the reading of the last will and testament of Lord Sirius Orion Black."

Harry sat there, gobsmacked. _Sirius was a Lord, Lord Black? He'd come into Gringotts and done some paperwork? What did it all mean?_ His woolgathering was cut short by the scrape of a chair. Turning his head towards the sound he saw Narcissa Malfoy, face red with anger, striding out of the room. Draco, just as angry or more than his mother, gave Harry a face that looked as if it would erupt in a snarl before he got up and quickly followed behind his mother. Once the door slammed shut Harry tapped Arthur Weasley on the arm.

"What happened?"

A laugh came from behind him, a throaty, female laugh. "They got what they deserved."

He turned around and saw her, finally recognising her. She was the Auror, Tonks. Her hair was different, but there was a bit of light in her eyes. "Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts. What happened?"

"Ahem." Barkshield cleared his throat and looked to Harry. "Lord Black disinherited Mrs. Malfoy and her son, casting them out officially and legally from House Black." His words were calm, no tone of irritation at having to repeat himself. The goblin had done more than one will reading, and surprises always meant covering the same directive quite often. He glanced at the documents on his desk and chuckled internally. "Now, as Mrs. Malfoy and her son have left the room, I will continue."

Harry listened as Sirius, from beyond the grave, let everyone know how much they had meant to him. Hermione was given a nice sum of Galleons and instructions to have a personal vault set up, not just one of the student vaults used by Muggleborn Hogwarts students, along with some books from the Black library. All of the Weasleys received Galleons along with other items, especially Fred and George who were given instructions to return later that afternoon for a private meeting with the goblins. That made Molly quite irritated, as she knew that Sirius wasn't the best influence on the twins, but Arthur reached around Harry's back and patted Molly on the shoulder. Remus received quite a bit of Galleons and a small house in Cuba. That made Harry wonder if the tropical birds that brought him messages from Sirius were from that house, but before he could think about it more he was aware of the silence. Nobody was saying anything, just looking at Barkshield.

The goblin placed a small, highly-polished wooden box on the top of the desk. "I have here the Head of House ring of the House of Black. I will now continue the reading." He picked up the paper. "Harry..."

"Barkshield, if I may."

Everyone looked over at Dumbledore, who had raised his hand.

"Yes?" The goblin looked at Dumbledore and then for a quick second glanced at Harry _and winked._

"Harry is much too young to become Lord Black, and with all of the tumult in the wizarding world at this time I feel it is unwise to continue this reading. I propose we postpone the rest of the reading of the will until...the situation is more settled."

Barkshield nodded solemnly. "Duly noted." He looked down at the will and before Dumbledore could interrupt began reading. "Harry, if things were all happy and wonderful I'd name you my heir and then you'd be the next Lord Black but you've got enough on your plate as it is." Barkshield paused and glared at Dumbledore, causing the old wizard to slink back slightly in his chair. "So instead you'll just have to be boring old Lord Potter."

"Again, I must insist." Dumbledore had once again raised his hand. "Harry is much too young and this is not the time fo..." His comments were cut off mid-word. His mouth continued to move but no sound came out.

Barkshield gave Dumbledore a toothy, frightening smile. "Chief Warlock, please forgive Gringotts but this is not of our doing. Lord Black requested and paid for enchantments to be placed upon the will and this room, specific enchantments to prevent interruption to his will. He was quite clear, that after reading the words 'Lord Potter' that any interruption would trigger the enchantment. Once the _will_ has been read _in it's entirety_ the enchantment will cease."

"Harry's _Lord_ Potter?" Hermione leaned forward and looked down the row of Weasleys at him, then turned in her chair and looked over the back at Remus. "Did you know about any of this?"

Remus gave her a slight shrug. "Some, but not all. I always knew that Sirius and James were from old families, but they didn't like to talk about it. They felt bad that, well, that they had gold and I didn't. They tried to give me things for years, but I told them I couldn't take their charity. As for the 'Lord Potter' and 'House Black'...to be honest I thought they were just taking the mickey." He saw the look of disbelief on Hermione's face. "I never imagined that they were actually...Hermione, for Merlin's sake, they called me Duke Lupin."

George and Fred's snort of laughter brought a sharp rebuke from their father, but Harry continued to stare at the goblin. _What was he going to tell him? Lord Potter? What did that mean? _

It was while Harry was pondering the abrupt change his life was going to potentially take when Dumbledore stood up and began pacing, stopping to take out his wand and flicking it about in the air, writing letters that seemed to glow and hang in the air. _STOP THIS NOW_.

With a resigned sigh Barkshield raised his hand, twisted the wrist slightly and two very sharp weapons floated down and began to prod Dumbledore back to his seat. Once he was seated Barkshield clapped his hands again, causing a different goblin from before to walk in. Barkshield simply pointed to Dumbledore. The new goblin produced a small, thin box of some sort of stone and held it towards Dumbledore. Eventually, seeing no way out of the situation, Albus placed his wand in the container and watched as the goblin placed it on the corner of the desk and left the room.

"Let us continue." Barkshield once again took up the parchment. "Harry, if things were all happy and wonderful I'd name you my heir and then you'd be the next Lord Black but you've got enough on your plate as it is. So instead you'll just have to be boring old Lord Potter. I'm sure that the Dark Idiot is gone now, you've married and have four or five kids with one of them named Sirius, but since you're going to be the Potter of House Potter (Merlin I hate using titles like that) I'm going to right a few wrongs if I haven't done it by the time you read this. If I kick it before things are righted then I want to at least right a few things before I go. First, and I know they have the parchment on file because the goblins here at Gringotts are sticklers for things like this, and no I didn't say that to have you knock three Galleons off of your service prices, I see you over there, writing like mad, Sharpskin. Right, so the parchment is on file and I as Lord Sirius Orion Black of House Black do hereby reinstate Andromeda Tonks nee Black into the House of Black and recognise her marriage to Ted Tonks."

"Oh Merlin!" Andromeda sat back in her chair in shock. Ted held her hand and patted her leg with the other hand, smiling.

"And as for my favourite relative Nymphadora, I did not forget you Nymphadora. Nymphadora I simply couldn't leave you out, how could I Nymphadora?"

Harry turned back and saw Tonks' face was a bit red, even with her metamorphagus skills. He knew she hated to be called by her first name, and Sirius had found a way to get to her in his will. _Nothing like a prank in the will_, Harry thought.

After the chuckles in the room subsided Barkshield continued. "Nymphadora, there are many things that aren't fair in life, we both know that, so therefore as Lord Black I'm changing a few things. I modified the succession documents for the house and now the Head of House doesn't always go to the male. Nymphadora...my clever little cousin, have you figured it out yet? I, Lord Sirius Orion Black, name as my heir and Head of House Black little Nymphadora Tonks. Congrats, love, you're Lady Black now."

"Bloody fucking hell!" Tonks stood up and held out her right hand. There, on the ring finger, was the House Black ring.

Many things happened after that. Dumbledore sat back in his chair as if he had just missed being trampled by Thestrals. Andromeda and Ted were silent and still as if they had been stunned, George and Fred were bowing repeatedly in front of Tonks, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny just looked at each other as if things couldn't be happening and Hagrid kept pounding Tonks on the back, telling her that she'd be a 'whopping great Lady Black.'

Once everyone had calmed down more of Sirius' will was read, gifting a hunting lodge in Poland to Hagrid. Barkshield turned to the next parchment page, focused his attention on Dumbledore and began reading.

"Albus Dumbledore, you infuriate me more than any wizard I've ever known but I do still slightly admire you. Slightly. If you are still around and I'm gone I suppose it can't hurt me anymore so let me just say that what you thought happened with the list of seventh year girls? It actually happened. I also did that thing with the potions, you know what I mean, and I was behind the great de-bearding incident. Oh, and it wasn't me who did that thing on the fourth floor to Filch, that was James. And yes, it was me who gave Auntie Minerva that bottle of firewhiskey laced with love potion. Now that we've got the good stuff out of the way I cannot for one more minute abide with how you've treated Harry's inheritance. I agreed with you that he didn't need the distraction but now he might need the resources. Unless this is all over and Harry's kids are pulling your beard asking about more bedtime stories about the great Sirius Black. In that case you still annoy the hell out of me. You know I don't do well with authority. As Harry's official guardian, and as Lord Black of blah blah blah I am authorising Gringotts to provide Harry with his inheritance, investiture, you name it. If it happened on your twenty-first birthday like it should, as your parents' intended, then sorry I didn't do it sooner. If you aren't twenty-one yet, Harry? Buckle up, lad. Oh, and Dumbledore, I bequeath you the Hog's Head and twenty acres of prime farming land in Ireland. Didn't know the Black Family was your brother's landlord, did you? Now you are. Harry, I've set aside a vault for you, you'll get a new key, but with all the Potter things you've got I didn't want to fill it with something as impersonal as Galleons, so I've put a few of my favourite things in there, just in case."

Barkshield paused for a moment, took a sip of water, and continued.

"So there you have it. I think I did very well. Only took me two bottles of firewhiskey to write this. Joking, joking, the goblins would have my hide if I tried to take one smell of anything alcoholic whilst writing this. Enjoy life, everyone. Merlin knows, even with a rather large gap, I certainly did. Signed this day Lord Sirius Orion Black."

That was the signal for everyone to get up and start talking, but Harry took off his glasses and rubbed the corner of his eyes. He told himself that he wouldn't cry, even if it was as sad as he thought it would be, and it was even sadder than he thought it would be, but the revelations had put him into a state of shock. _The Malfoys were cut out, Tonks was head of House Black and he was Lord Potter? _

"Harry?"

He looked up to see Ron,Ginny and Hermione standing in front of him, their faces full of concern.

Hermione sat down next to him in the chair Arthur had vacated. "Harry, are you ok?"

"Yeah, Lord Potter, are you ok?" Ron smirked at him and sat down. "Sorry, mate, couldn't resist. Lot to take in, yeah? Like she said, you ok?"

The gong rang out again, drawing everyone's attention to Barkshield. "Thank you for your attention. In light of Lord Black's will and testament we have further business to conduct today. Harry Potter, will you step forward, please?"

Harry saw the looks in his friends' faces but ignored them. He knew they were worried about him, but he just wanted it over. He wanted to go back to the Burrow, to back to Ron's room and lie in bed, maybe grab his broom and go flying...the broom that Sirius had given him.

"Mr. Potter?" Barkshield gave him an honest, comforting, no pointy teeth smile. "I'm afraid I'm following Lord Black's directives in this investiture test. Usually to prove inheritance for investiture the applicant provides a small, almost imperceptible amount of blood. This is by tradition, as any bodily fluid would suffice. Lord Black has requested that you provide saliva." He reached down and pulled up a white stone statue of a very naked and very busty witch. "If you would lick the breasts, Mr. Potter."

Giant guffaws of laughter came from Fred and George, not to mention others. Harry thought he heard Tonks' laughter as well but quickly ignored the sounds. "Lick?"

"Yes, both breasts, please. If you are the next Lord Potter...we will soon know."

_Get on with it, Harry._ He stepped forward, leaned over and stuck out his tongue, licking the left breast. It didn't taste like anything. Not knowing what else to do he licked the right breast, astonished to find out that it...tasted like toffee. Suddenly the statue became animated, jumped off the pedestal and began chorus stepping along Barkshield's desk, throwing confetti in the air while a small series of fireworks shot out from her backside, coalescing in the air to say 'CONGRATS LORD POTTER!' Harry stood there in shock, watching the figure dance about the table until he felt something prick his right hand. Specifically the ring finger of his right hand. There, glowing slightly, was the heavy gold ring of House Potter.

To say that the other attendees enjoyed the show would not be exactly correct, as Albus, Molly and Andromeda were less than pleased. The others thought that it was truly Sirius at his best. The twins simply marveled at the creativity of the old Maurader.

Tonks came over and put her arm around Harry's shoulder. "Welcome to the club, Lord Potter."

Harry smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Same to you."

The fireworks suddenly ceased. Once again the small gong rang and Barkshield waved his hands, motioning for everyone to take a seat. Harry quickly sat down next to Tonks, Ginny followed suit and sat on his other side. Barkshield stepped in front of the desk this time, an old, crumpled parchment in his hand.

"Lady Black, Lord Potter, guests. I'm afraid there is one more piece of business to conduct today. Before I begin I must determine eligibility. Lady Black, what is your age?"

Tonks sat there for a moment before realising with a start that the goblin meant _her_ when he said Lady Black. "Oh, sorry. Twenty-three."

He nodded. "Very well. Lord Potter, what is your age?"

Harry quickly glanced over at Ron who gave him the 'I have no idea, mate' look. "Uh, sixteen.

Barkshield put on his spectacles, read for a moment and then turned back to the attendees. "The parameters are correct. As the reading of the will is complete, and Lord Potter has accepted his position, I must ask that everyone exit the room except for the following individuals. Lady Nymphadora Black, Lord Harry Potter, Mr. and Mrs. Tonks and Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Weasley. Thank you for attention today, goblins await you outside to advise regarding any gifts bequeathed here today. Mr. Fred Weasley, Mr. George Weasley, your meeting will begin at once." He held up his hand and the door flashed green and then opened.

Dumbledore left almost immediately after retrieving his wand, striding out, his purple and orange robe billowing behind him. The Weasley twins had to be almost forcibly removed by Molly but then remembered they had a meeting and scarpered off, Ginny and Hermione looked back at Harry, wondering what the Boy Who Lived had got himself into this time. Hagrid chuckled as he walked away with Ron, muttering about 'Lady Black' and 'Lord Potter.' Remus gave both Harry and Tonks an odd look and walked off. After they had all left the room the door closed again, flashed green and everyone turned to Barkshield.

"The instructions given require viewing of a pensieve memory prior to the official reading of the decree." He clapped his hands and the door behind the desk opened, filled almost instantly after that with a goblin levitating a massive silver pensieve through the door. One side of the pensieve scraped the door jamb slightly, causing the goblin to blanch and quickly glance over at Barkshield. The older goblin took off his spectacles and tilted his head. "It is all right, Hawkfist, the doorway is quite small." He turned to the assembled witches and wizards. "The pensieve usually required for the readings of wills or other legal documents is much smaller. Due to the amount of wizardkind required to view this memory the Gringotts pensieve is needed."

Harry looked over at the pensieve and saw carvings of goblins with spears and other weapons attacking...wizards. It didn't make him any more comfortable. More than anything he wished Hermione was there with him, she would be able to figure things out if it got weird, and if the statue was any indication things were about to get weirder.

He was right. As soon as they were all gathered around the pensieve Barkshield put the memory inside and indicated for them to watch.

_The interior of a smoky, dimly lit pub came into view. A sign above the bar read __**Old Odgen's – Best Firewhiskey Award 1979.**__ Immediately a serving tray became visible a hand went out and grabbed the bottle, the hand of Sirius Black, wearing a black leather motorcycle jacket, hair long and wild. He waved off the barmaid's offer of glasses and made his way to the back of the pub where James Potter sat. James' hair was disheveled, more than how it appeared in photos, his glasses were slightly askew, face filled with stubble and he was smoking a cigar. _

_Sirius plopped the bottle down on the table and half-slid into the opposite chair. "I still can't believe it, Prongs. Lily pregnant...you're going to be a father!"_

"_I know!" James handed Sirius a cigar and then looked as if he was trying to decipher Abyssinian arithmancy. "Is this the second bottle?"_

"_Third." Sirius reached over and pulled off the cork. "Don't worry, I took care of the tab."_

_James laughed. "Right. You never pay. Who is it this time?"_

"_I'm shocked, Potter. Shocked." After a moment he couldn't help himself and started laughing. "Fabian Prewett. I'm sure they know I'm not him but I don't think they care."_

"_Brilliant." James held out his glass which was quickly filled. "I bet it's a girl."_

"_Nah." Sirius waved him off. "Boy all the way. Just think, Jimmy my boy, you're gonna have a son. Someday you'll have to send him to me to tell 'im how to pull birds. Merlin knows you're pants at it."_

"_HEY!" James poked the cigar towards Sirius. "Who's the one who has a fit wife who's up the duff? Me, that's who. You? Pfft." He blew out his lips. "Good luck finding someone to marry your smell old doggy arse. You probably got three or four kids running around though. You remember France?"_

"_Of course I remember France. Mostly." Sirius shrugged. "And I cast one hell of a contraception charm, mate. Practice makes perfect, you know."_

"_Wishful thinking." James sat there suddenly silent and then looked over at Sirius appraisingly. "We can't do this as often, you know. Go out and get legless. I'm gonna be a father."_

_Sirius took a long drink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I told you things would change when you got married. You said it wouldn't, Lily-bird said it wouldn't, but it did. This'll change things too, mate. Oh, it'll be grand for a bit and then you an' Lily and the boy will move out to the country or summing. It'll just be me an' old Remus in that horrible flat. Then you'll be Lord Potter, eventually, and then you'll be off in the Wizangamot making Britain wonderful." He paused. "After the dark wanker's gone, of course."_

"_Sirius, no, mate. You're like family. Mum claims you, and if Mum claims you, well, you're family."_

_Sirius waved him off and puffed on his cigar. "Not really. Unless when you become Lord Potter you adopt me. No other way to be family."_

_A melancholy expression faded from James' face as his eyes went wide. "You know what would be brilliant? My kid and your kid, getting married. We'd be family then."_

"_What?" Sirius half spit out his drink. "Are you mental? Two blokes..."_

_James waved him off. "I'm sure it's a girl, but you'll probably have a bloke or two. What'dya think? Happened before, you know, Black and Potter."_

"_But we're related, sorta." Sirius shook his head. "They'd probably come out all fucked up like...Snape." Both men shuddered, then Sirius looked over at him, thoughtfully drunk. "But that would make my parents furious. Yours and mine, married."_

_James sat upright and pounded his fist on the table, causing the drinkware to rattle. "Well, let's do it. A contract."_

"_Are you daft? Really? What would your wife say?"_

_He waved Sirius off. "She'll be fine with it, she loves you like a brother. A brother that's a git, but..."_

_Sirius gave James a two-fingered salute. "Well if we're gonna do this let's do it right. We need parchment and rules."_

"_Right." James waved over the barmaid and soon thereafter parchment and a quill were brought over and laid on the slightly damp table. "Ok, first, has to be a boy and a girl. Can't carry on the line otherwise."_

"_Spoken like a true pureblood." Sirius leaned over and smacked James on the top of his head. "Of course it has to be, idiot. Ok, my rule next then. They can't be too far apart in age. I'm not having my ten year old son in a contract with your forty year old girl."_

"_Ten years or less, that work?" James saw Sirius nod and continued writing. He looked up at Sirius. "What if you're shooting blanks? Adoption count?"_

"_I DO NOT SHOOT BLANKS." Sirius angrily grabbed the bottle and took a swig. "I am a very...viral? Viable?" He waved off James. "Fine, our heirs. That count?"_

_James thought for a moment and shrugged. "Sure. Heirs. Ok. Now what?"_

"_No sham weddings like...what's her name? You know, two years above us. Blonde, bit tits, no brains? Married the ancient wizard just to get his Galleons?"_

"_I can't remember her name. Loved the boobs, though. Saw her running one time, late to class. Bloody hell." James laughed. "They were going EVERYWHERE." He took a drink. "How about a kid in the first, um, I dunno. Five years."_

"_Sure. Fine. Since this'll probably never happen." Sirius sat back in the chair and took a puff off his cigar, the fun of planning now gone. "Do you really see me marrying someone? Popping out kids like, I dunno, the Weasleys? I'm the bad Black, Prongso. Yeah, I'm an Auror, but even the birds that fancy me don't really trust me to, uh, I mean, I think they expect me to go all 'crazy dark wizard Black' on them. Do you really think in less than ten years that'll change?"_

"_Sirius. Mate." James leaned forward. "I do. I do. In fact, I do so bloody much that I'm going to finish writing this up, you're gonna sign it and we're taking it to Gringotts in the morning."_

Suddenly Harry felt himself being pulled out of the pensieve, a sensation much worse than side-along apparition in his stomach. He looked across the pensieve to the very pale, very worried face of Tonks.

"Attention, please." Barkshield tapped his fingers against the desk. "I have the parchment that was produced that evening, and yes, it does still slightly smell of firewhiskey. The contract, written without the most standard clauses, was determined to be valid by Gringotts. It was later verified with the Ministry and filed appropriately. As Lord Black did not mention the contract when he drew up his will it is our belief that both he and James Potter were too inebriated to remember the creation of the contract. It would have been unenforceable if Lord Black had named Lord Potter as his heir. As he named Lady Black as his heir, though, the contract became valid." He cleared his throat. "Lady Nymphadora Black, it is my responsibility as a member of the Gringotts Family Law and Inheritance Department to inform you that you are bound by contract to wed Lord Harry Potter. Congratulations."

_**A/N: I do love a good Lord Baron Potter Black story, and while reading one the other day thought about how Harry always becomes the head of House Black thorugh Sirius' will. What if he wasn't the heir? I also do love a good Honks story (see Respitechristopher and Chelseyb's stories, they're wonderful) and thought about giving it a go. This is also a little bit out of my wheelhouse, as in **__**My Lord Harry Potter**__** I had a little fun dismantling the tropes, and I'm not as comfortable writing during Harry's school years, but what the heck. Why not give it a shot?**_

_**Yes, I know I have other WIPs that desperately need attention, but when my muse showed up and tapped me on the shoulder this is what happened. The other WIPs may languish a bit as this story is fresh in my mind, but trust me, I will get to them. May take a bit, but I will.**_

_**Poor Duke Lupin. I'll have to do something nice for him.**_


	2. The Million Galleon Question

**Chapter 2: The Million Galleon Question**

"No! No way in bloody hell."

Everyone surrounding the pensieve at Gringotts looked at Nymphadora Tonks. They had just viewed a memory and had learned, via a rather unofficial looking parchment that apparently was official, that she was now contracted to marry Harry Potter. Her mother was the first to break the silence, as she knew exactly what it meant that her daughter's hair had turned a pale shade of green. Most people thought that when her hair turned red it meant that she was angry, but that was when Dora felt excited. Pale green, on the other hand...

"Dora, dear, let's go have a cup of tea..."

"I don't want any fucking tea!" She jerked her arm away from her mum and without another word stormed out of the room. As she made it out into the hallway she blinked her eyes several times to get used to the difference in light, which for some reason seemed to irritate her. _Bloody goblins, couldn't they make the hallways easier to navigate? Probably did it on purpose to be intimidating. Little fuckers. _As she made it to the main floor of Gringotts she heard them call to her. _ Who was that calling her Lady Black? Ron Weasley? Well fuck him, fuck Sirius for this awful fucking joke and fuck everything. _The moment she exited Gringotts she took off her robe, threw it over her shoulder and Apparated away.

The moment she landed in the alleyway behind the Muggle club she knew that, for a few hours at least, she was going to forget that whole farce at Gringotts and just pretend that it did not happen whatsoever. With a slight look of determination on her face she turned her hair bubblegum pink, brought it up to her shoulders and had the ends flip up a bit. Once that was complete she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small leather wallet. To most of the population, magical and non-magical, it would simply look as if she had appropriated a man's wallet. In truth she had appropriated a man's wallet, a rather posh leather one, but with a few added features, specifically the accordion-folding photograph holder. Most people that carry wallets with photos fill the slots with photos of their loved ones. Tonks carried photographs of different men and women, references for when she wanted to use her metamorphagus skills. She flipped through the photos, finally landing on one that hadn't been used for a while.

The freckled girl with pink hair and a slight figure walked over to the bar, put down a crumpled ₤100 note and looked up at the shocked man wiping a glass with a rag. "Let me know when that's gone. Pint of bitter and a whiskey double, keep 'em coming."

-ooo-

Tonks' exit left everyone around the pensieve a bit stunned. Harry glanced from person to person, trying to make sense of it all. It was while watching Mr. Tonks calm down his wife that Harry had a startling thought; _those two are going to be my in-laws._

"Harry?"

He felt a hand on his shoulder, looked up and saw Arthur Weasley giving him a chagrined look. "Yes, Mr. Weasley?"

Arthur shook his head slightly. "No, my boy, just Arthur please. I think we need to have a chat." He motioned to the chairs, glanced at Barkshield and nodded slightly. Once the goblin had informed the others that Harry required a bit of privacy they moved away, Molly quite reluctantly but after a glance from Arthur she acquiesced. Once they were alone again Arthur took a deep breath. "Bit to take in, isn't it?"

"A bit?" Harry snorted and shook his head. "Mental. It's all mental." He stopped suddenly and looked intently at Arthur. "Did you know about Sirius being Lord Black? And why has nobody ever told me about my dad being Lord Potter?"

Arthur's eyes widened and he exhaled loudly. "Whhhhppph. Well, I have to say Sirius surprised us all. I don't recall him ever saying he was Lord Black. If he did it, sorry, whenever he did it, becoming Lord Black, it must have been not too long before he passed. Knowing him as I did, mind, only recently, I don't believe it was something he would have spread about. Terribly stuffy business, being a Lord of a Noble House, Wizangamot seats, all the...oh dear." He winced. "Sorry, Harry. Forgot you're Lord Potter."

Harry shrugged and held up his hand with the Potter ring. "I guess so."

"No, no my boy." Arthur shook his head. "The ring proves it. You are Lord Potter. Now, as for why you never knew your father was Lord Potter...he died before he could become Lord Potter. Your Grandfather was still Lord Potter when your father died." He stopped suddenly, a pained expression upon his face. "I'm sorry, Harry, I shouldn't be the one to tell you these things."

"No. I'd rather it be you than..."

"Yes, well, thank you." Arthur had cut him off before it was out in the open. He knew that Harry and Dumbledore had not seen eye-to-eye in quite some time, and the recent events that had unfolded would probably not help the matter. "I'm not sure how it works with the Potters. We Weasleys were a noble house at one time, before one of my ancestors sold off the Wizangamot seat, we're still a very minor house...but that's another story. With my family everything happens when one turns seventeen, becomes an adult in the world and all that. The Potters may have something different. I'm sure it'll be in their book."

"Book?" Harry gave him an odd look. "What book?"

Arthur raised his eyebrows and sighed. "I really wish Dumbledore hadn't...oh dear." He reached out and put his hand on Harry's shoulder and leaned closer. "My boy, all of the Order, after your parent's and grandparent's death, took an oath. I can't say that I would do it again, and Molly speaks of it every time we have seen you at the start of summer, looking as thin as you do, but we took an oath not to reveal to you that you were Lord Potter."

"What?" Harry shot out of the chair and began pacing around the room. "Why? Why the bloody hell would he do that?"

As Harry paced Arthur paused, thought about it and finally replied. "We believed it was best for your safety." He held up a hand as Harry had turned to him. "You have to understand, we thought your Aunt and Uncle's house was safe, Harry. It was common, in the past, for the heads of noble houses to be targeted by those...my boy, you were...you are the last Potter. Even after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was gone, the first time, there were those who wanted revenge."

"But why keep it from me? Why not let me know?" Harry looked at Arthur pleadingly. "Why?"

"Again, to protect you. This time from your relatives."

"Ha." Harry looked at Arthur and shook his head. "That didn't work."

"Yes, I'm afraid you're right, but not in the way we expected. We thought that they would take advantage of you financially, at minimum. As they were your guardians, at least in the Muggle world, they would have had access to the Potter accounts. Muggle ones, at least. The thought was to protect your assets, to keep them from draining you dry and running up debts. It happened before, you see."

"Really?" Harry's tone was somewhat sarcastic, but then he tempered his emotions. "Sorry."

"No, no. Quite all right." Arthur continued. "Right after the Muggle war Lord Tomlin was left as the last of his magical line, poor lad, only five, lost them both to the Muggle bombs. A Muggle cousin of Lord Tomlin's took him in, and the man and his wife drained the boy's vaults dry. They were obliviated and sent to prison, Ministry provided appropriate Muggle charges. By the time he came to Hogwarts he didn't have two Sickles to rub together and a mountain of debts. Sad story."

"What happened to him?" Harry sat down next to Arthur. "Did he get his money back?"

"Sadly, no. Died in the Seventies. Death Eater attack at a pub."

Harry sat there and looked up at the walls, noticing for the first time that a small series of paintings covered the far wall. A goblin in full-dress armour of some kind ran from one painting to the next, weapons in both arms, decapitating wizards with wands and staffs as he went. It was rather gruesome. Finally, he tore his attention away from the paintings and looked up at Arthur. "So what now?"

"That is the million Galleon question, isn't it? I suppose that is up to you."

"Do I have to really marry Tonks?"

Arthur paused and looked at Harry. After everything the boy had been through it seemed almost cruel to tell him the truth, but he had to. "Yes, I believe you do. Most contracts have language that can provide an out, in case one of the parties does not want the marriage, but since your father and Sirius drew that up after a few too many I'm afraid that there probably aren't any of the usual legal loopholes. Perhaps you can use that to your advantage, though."

"Really." Harry sat back in the chair and slumped down. "I mean, I like Tonks ok, don't really know her that well. She's got to be furious, though. Why do these things always happen to me?"

"I'm not sure, Harry. I'm not sure. It does seem that Fate does enjoy giving you obstacles. Maybe this is a turning point, though." He tapped Harry on the shoulder to get his attention. Once the boy had turned and given him full attention Arthur continued. "One thing from Sirius' will has stuck with me; resources. He wrote that you could use the Potter resources now, being named Lord Potter. I believe that is an area...that's the place to start."

Harry sat there for a moment, his thoughts buzzing about his head like a newly-released Snitch. They bounced around, fragments of something here, just the beginnings of an idea there, until finally he gave up. "So how do I start?"

"Well." Arthur gave him a smile. "I believe you are in the precise place to start, my boy. Gringotts."

-ooo-

At first the denizens of the Muggle bar-slash-club thought she was hilarious, the girl with the pink hair. She said the most outlandish things, sang off-key and bought round after round. Most of the blokes thought she wasn't hard on the eyes, especially when she did a little dance when a Rolling Stones song came on, but the ladies? They weren't too thrilled with her. Most ignored her but some were taking a few too many glances in her direction, watched how she had all the eligible men over there, and began talking amongst themselves. Nail files were pulled out of purses and one woman put her keys in her fist, making sure the bits that go in the Muggle locks were between her fingers.

It was at that moment the large, gruff looking bald man with the salt and pepper beard walked into the club, scanned the room momentarily and then went straight over to Tonks' table, moving men out of the way. Two men sitting close to her noticed the man right away and hurried to remove themselves but the one guy, the one who thought he just might have an in with the pink-haired girl, that man continued to drape his arm around her shoulders and ignored everything else.

It was a mistake. The gruff, older man's hand shot out and grabbed the earring that dangled from the man's ear. "Listen, boy, shove off."

"Hey!" The man reached up and tried to remove the old man's grip from his earring. "Lay off! Who the bloody hell do you think you are?"

"I'm her father. Now fuck the fuck off."

It didn't take long for the young man to get the hint, and without so much as a 'goodbye' he left the table. The older man glared at the unhappy men and smirking women who were watching them, a look that held enough menace that everyone hurriedly found something other to do.

It was at that time that Tonks shot down the last of a glass of something and sloshed her head over to see who was next to her. "You're...not Daddy."

The man's voice was low and full of irritation. "No, my _Lady_, it isn't. So I see you've said the hell with _constant vigilance_."

"Fucking hell. Moody? Issat you?"

"Right in one, my _Lady_. Let's get you out of here before you do something even stupider. And with your track record that would quite the trick, lassie." He stood up and as gently as possible pulled her to a somewhat standing position. "Let's get you home."

Side-along Apparition is nausea-inducing whilst sober, but for Tonks, in her severe state of inebriation it was all too much. Moody, still in his glamour, stood by and watched as she emptied the contents of her stomach in one of her neighbour's rose bushes. One she'd finished Moody looked around and with a discreet wave of his wand vanished the vomit. She first attempted to wave off his assistance, but the combination of alcohol and her graceful skill of walking soon led to her acquiescing to Moody's assistance. Once she'd open the door, stumbled in and face planted on the sofa Moody shook his head at the state of her flat, pulled up a chair and sat in it across from her and dispelled his glamour.

"Here." He thrust a vial of swirling potion out to her. "Drink this."

The sound of Tonks' voice was muffled by the sofa cushion. "No drinks."

"It's a hangover potion, you moron. Drink."

Without looking she held out her hand, took the vial once she felt it against her skin, and with the absolute minimum of effort popped the cork and twisted her head around so she could drink it. "Awful."

"You'd feel worse if you didn't." He sat there for a few minutes in silence as the potion began working, and while waiting took a closer look around her flat. It was apparent that she was a miserable housekeeper, as untidy didn't begin to describe the place. Clothes, takeaway containers, magazines, old copies of the Prophet, you name it. He also noted a few items that were unmistakably male.

"Oh Merlin." She raised herself up and turned over to face him. "D'ya have more?"

"More won't help."

"How didja find me?"

"You still got your Auror badge, right?"

"Oh." She eased herself slowly into a somewhat upright sitting position. "Who owled you?"

"Your mum. Didn't say much except you were in a right state and would probably end up like this." He paused. "And right after that owl I got an owl from the Ministry. Said there was a new Wizangamot member who hadn't taken her seat yet but needed some protection. Didn't take Dumbledore's brains to put two and two together, and then Wingfield, you know, that Ravenclaw trainee prat who couldn't find his arse with two hands and a Point Me spell? Ran into him outside the Leaky and he said that it was all over, big Prophet edition coming out soon, you were the new Lady Black. Being an Auror not enough for you, girl?"

"Bollocks."

"If you want my opinion you'd be a damned sight better on the Wizangamot that some of those puffed up twats. So why'd you try to drink everything in the pub, girl? Hate it that much?"

Tonks' face slowly began to return to normal, her hair back to its normal length and with the dark curls inherited by her mum and aunts. "Moody, you don't know the half of it."

"Then try me."

For a moment she thought about telling him everything; after all, this was Moody, the man who'd plucked her from the Auror trainee pool and had decided to make her his protégé. But she couldn't. If she told him it would be real, and that was something she just couldn't face. Not now. "Can't. Maybe later. Still need to process everything."

"Right, then." He stood up, went into the kitchen and began banging around in the cupboards, eventually returning with a cooking pot. "Here." He put it down in front of her. "Potion's good but it's not that good. You know how to find me."

With that Alastor Moody hobbled away, his wooden peg thwacking against the floor, opened the door and left without another word. Tonks sat there, half-propped on the sofa, looking at the door and when another wave of nausea hit her she was glad he had left the pot. Once she'd finished she leaned back on the sofa, wiped her mouth with the bottom of her t-shirt and shook her head.

"Mrs. Harry Potter? Like hell."

-ooo-

Harry walked out of Gringotts next to Arthur and Molly Weasley, still reeling as if he'd been hit with several stunner spells. Initially the goblins had denied the Weasley's entrance to his meeting with the House Potter account goblin but he had insisted, and after everything he had heard he was glad he had held his ground.

The days of the Privet Drive prison were over. As he had claimed the House Potter ring he was, in the eyes of the law, an adult. The goblins cited precedent, as in medieval times there had been a house that was in similar straits, with the exception that there were several qualified females that were passed over due to the customs of the times, and a fifteen year old wizard had been named head of house and emancipated. Dumbledore could no longer insist that he stay there, but he was sure that the old man would strongly suggest that he stay there. Potter Manor, the ancestral home of House Potter, had been destroyed shortly after his grandparent's deaths. Although the official cause of death of Charlus and Dorea Potter was listed as dragonpox almost nobody believed that. Somehow the wards at Potter Manor had been breached and the place was destroyed. Currently it was a vacant estate somewhere in Wales. They told him exactly, but Harry couldn't remember. There was a smaller house, actually a hunting lodge, somewhere in the northern isles of Scotland, and he'd simply nodded when the goblin asked if he would like the Potter elves to ready the residence.

He'd listened as the goblin, whose name he couldn't remember, began listing vault contents and investments. Apparently he was even wealthier than before, but didn't really register. The entire time they had been informing him of his holdings Harry had been in a daze.

_I have to marry Tonks. I've barely had a real girlfriend and now I have to marry Tonks. I've kissed Cho but that was...not what I expected. Merlin's pants, Tonks is Charlie Weasley's ex-girlfriend! What's he going to think? What's Ron going to think? Hermione? She'll go mental. Is it going to be in the papers, will everybody know? What do I say to Tonks? 'Hi, how are you? So when are we getting married?' She'll think I'm a complete idiot. She's an Auror, and I'm...I'm starting my sixth year of Hogwarts. Voldemort is still out there, if he finds out she's a target, too. _

When he came back to the conversation Molly was nodding politely at the goblin in agreement with something, he'd have to ask her later. That mystery was solved almost immediately as the goblin slid a very large, old and thick book over to Molly. He recognized the crest on the book as matching the one on his ring, a black griffon holding a sword. Apparently that was the last of the items as everyone stood up from the table so he had followed suit and then, before he knew it, he was walking out of Gringotts with Molly and Arthur.

"Harry, dear?" Molly put her hand on his shoulder as they walked. "You're coming home with us for tonight. I'll fix a bit to eat and then..." She paused and looked over to Arthur, who nodded. "...and then we'll look at your book. Is that all right with you?"

"Sure." Harry nodded almost mechanically. "Sure."

Side-along apparition was never one of Harry's favourite things, but the moment he saw the Burrow his nerves began to form knots in his stomach. With his breathing rapidly increasing he followed Arthur into the Burrow.

From the moment the door opened chaos reigned. A large banner floated near the ceiling and read 'WELCOME LORD POTTER!' George and Fred blew noisemakers and bubbles were sprouting from somewhere, music blaring from the wireless. Ron and Hermione sat on the sofa, at opposite ends, and from their expressions Harry knew they'd had one of their usual arguments.

Arthur, seeing the decorations, smiled momentarily before composing himself. "That's enough, boys."

"Oh you two!" Molly put a hand on her hips and took out her wand, vanishing the bubbles and the sign. "That's quite enough. He's still Harry and I won't have you treating him any differently, do you understand? Fred, George, I want you to start peeling potatoes. Now march." She pointed to the kitchen and followed them, not trusting them for very good reason.

Harry looked up at Arthur, saw the eldest Weasley nod his head towards Ron and Hermione, and then watched as Arthur also went into the kitchen, leaving him alone with his friends. After a deep breath Harry went over and flopped in the chair across from the sofa. As neither Ron or Hermione said a word he rolled his eyes. "Not one question?"

"Questions? Oh, I've heard enough of those." Ron shook his head. "That's all she is, questions."

Hermione jerked her head towards Ron. "Of _course_ I have questions, Ronald! I wasn't raised like you, you know?"

"Merlin, Hermione!" Ron gave her an exasperated look. "I don't know about any of this stuff! We're not a noble house. Does _this_ look like a noble house to you?" He waved his arms around. "Not like I have a house elf to wipe my arse or anything?"

"House elves..." Hermione turned to Harry. "Do you have house elves?"

"Uh..." Harry sat back in his chair, wishing he didn't know the answer. "I think so. Goblins said they're at the lodge. Yeah, I guess I do." He saw her eyebrow raise and decided to cut her off before she got good and wound up. "It's a hunting lodge in Scotland. My grandparents' place was burned down after they died."

Ron gave Hermione an irritated look and turned his attention to Harry. "So...how are you, mate? You ok?"

"I...I'm not sure, Ron." He took off his glasses and sat them on a small table. "There's a lot I still don't know or can't remember. Your mum has the Potter book, I guess everything's in there. We're going to look through it tonight after we eat. And yes, Hemione, you can be there. You too, Ron." He stopped for a moment and put his glasses back on. "I'm going to need your help, there's no way I can manage all this on my own. Oh!" His expression brightened into a big grin. "I'm legally an adult now, so no more going back to the Dursleys, thank Merlin."

"Blimey, Harry. That's great." Ron nodded, remembering rescuing Harry from there with Fred and George in their father's car. "Those people are awful."

Harry looked over to Hermione, who was biting her lip slightly, a sign he knew that meant she was worried. "Hermione? What's wrong?"

"Oh Harry." She leaned forward. "You were a target before, now you'll be an even bigger target! And what's this mean, you won't have to leave Hogwarts, will you?"

"I don't think so. Nobody said I'd have to." Harry shrugged. "Far as I know I'm still going."

"And what happened after we had to leave?" Hermione looked at him quizzically. "Was it something more because you and Tonks are now Lady Black and Lord Potter?"

_'Something more', that was an understatement. _ Harry blinked rapidly and took a deep breath. It was almost on the tip of his tongue, the fact that he and Tonks were bound by a marriage contract, but for some reason he just couldn't do it. "Yeah, stuff like that. Sorry, can't tell you. If I could, I would."

The three were quiet for a moment, the only sounds breaking the silence the muffled conversation and cooking noises from the kitchen. Suddenly he realised that someone was missing. "Where's Ginny?"

Ron shrugged but Hermione answered. "She's at Moira Phelps' house. Moira invited her and the rest of their roommates over for the weekend." She stared at the two boys' identical expressions of confusion. "Moira? Ginny's roommate? Honestly, all this time at Hogwarts and you have no idea who Ginny's roommates are? It's a wonder you two don't get Troll marks on your grades."

Harry and Ron shared a look which both understood that Hermione was right, they both had no clue about Ginny's roommates. As Ron asked if Moira was the blonde girl Harry took the opportunity to enjoy the moment, the fact that it was normal Hogwarts stuff instead of 'the Potter of House Potter' and hereditary Wizangamot seats and investments and, above all, anything about a marriage contract.

Later that evening, after the dishes were cleaned and floated back into the cupboard, everyone sat around the dinner table as Harry sat with the Potter book in front of him, Hermione on one side and Molly on the other, Ron and Arthur across the table. For their reluctance to tell Molly one shred of what happened at their meeting with the goblins after the reading of Sirius' will the twins were sent to their room. That made Harry smirk, because if anything Molly had just encouraged them to do...whatever Fred and George wanted to do, as they valued secrecy.

The book itself was a revelation for Harry; before he knew just a small amount about his family, the few things related to him at different times by others, the pictures from the photo album Hagrid had given him, stories from Sirius and Remus, but now there was something more concrete, something real. His family had been involved almost at the beginning of the Wizangamot, but more than that they had been in Britain before Merlin, if the book was to be believed. Unlike the Black family, which had restricted Head of House status to males only, the Head of House was free to name whoever they thought best to be the next Head of House, as evidenced by Magdalene Potter, Head of House in 1349. That made Hermione happy, but that good feeling towards the Potters of old ceased when she found out that the Potter family was one of the first to bond house elves. Harry winced slightly when he had found that passage and had tried to skip over it but she'd seen the words on the page and it was too late.

Besides that the book was full of the histories of the Potter clan, held potion recipes, treatises on crop rotation and then, when he'd turned the page Harry got odd looks from Molly and Hermione. They thought the pages were blank, but Harry saw the words as plain as day. He read for a bit and realised that the spells were family spells, only visible to those of House Potter. He explained briefly, but when he went to tell them exactly what one of the spells did (a rather powerful fertility enhancement spell) he couldn't say the name of the spell, something for which he was actually quite grateful. Saying what _that_ spell did next to Molly and Hermione would have definitely made him blush.

More than anything, though, the book stressed responsibility. The Head of House was responsible for the welfare of all of the Potter family, responsible for settling disputes, for dutifully attending and participating in the Wizangamot and other such things. One thing that started a lively 'discussion' was the section that detailed how, as Head of House, he was responsible for the negotiation and approval of all marriage contracts. That sent Hermione off, saying how it was 'barbaric' that such things could still exist. Arthur tried to calm her down, saying that it wasn't done much these days, but a few old houses still followed the practise. While Arthur was speaking Harry couldn't look at Hermione and only Molly's gentle pat under the table on his knee helped calm him.

It was after that Arthur decided that they'd had enough reading for the night. He stood up and yawned. "I must say it has been quite the day. I believe I'll turn in."

The tapping at the window drew everyone's attention; a rather ordinary owl hovered outside, an envelope tied to it's leg. Arthur went over, opened the window and the owl flew over to Harry. As Arthur saw the boy's face become pale he nodded to his son. "Ron, go fetch the owl treats."

Harry reached forward and hesitantly untied the letter. Once he opened it up and read for a moment his unease didn't lessen one bit. "Uh, it's from Mr. and Mrs. Tonks. They'd invited me over for tea tomorrow."

Molly patted him on the shoulder. "I think that's a good idea. I'll get a bit of parchment so you can write her back."

Harry expected more questions from Hermione but instead he found her engrossed in the Potter book, way at the beginning, the history section of the book. Ron grumbled a bit about having to get the owl treats but Harry ignored him. Once the parchment and a quill were provided he accepted the invitation and the owl was on it's way.

"Harry?" Hermione looked up to him with puppy dog eyes. "Could...would you mind if I took this up to read? It's fascinating! Did you know..."

"No!" He laughed. "I don't know. Haven't read it, but yeah, sure. Fine with me. Just remember if you can't read some things it's..."

"I'm not a Potter." She nodded. "I understand. Night!" With that she scooped up the book, put a small piece of parchment in the book to mark her place and made her way upstairs.

That was the signal for everyone to go to sleep. Eventually, after loo visits and brushing of teeth, Harry lay in bed across the room from Ron, staring up at the ceiling, watching shadows from the tree outside move across the room.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

Ron hesitated for a moment. "You're really rich, right?"

"I guess."

"Like really, really rich?"

"I think so."

Ron cleared his throat. "I need a favour." He heard Harry's deep exhalation of breath and plunged ahead. "If you're that rich, for the love of Merlin, would you buy the Cannons? Their owner is shite, won't spend any Galleons on good players and as soon as we actually get a good player he sells them to Wimbourne or Puddlemere or some team like that. You'd be a bloody brilliant owner, mate."

Harry laughed softly. "Tell you what, next time I see the goblins I'll ask, ok?"

"Brilliant. We're gonna win the league!" Ron's voice was full of hope, just as it was every single year the season started. "Oh, hey, when tomorrow let's see if George and Fred can have their girlfriends over, we can have three-a-side Quidditch. Be good practise with Angelina and Katie around. Sound good?"

Harry laid there and closed his eyes happily. After everything that had happened, Quidditch sounded _perfect_. "Works for me."

"Great. Night."

"Night."


	3. A Trip to Gringotts

**Chapter 3: A Trip to Gringotts**

To all outward appearances Harry had a very normal, summer day. He woke fairly late, had a massive Weasley breakfast, and then the Burrow was a flurry of activity. Ginny arrived home from her roommates' sleepover, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell arrived with broomsticks in hand and the Quidditch began. Harry played well, as always, but something was off.

As he circled around the makeshift goal hoops looking for the rather battered and slow Snitch that they had decided to use Harry found his mind drifting. He registered the fact that George had stopped in the air to kiss Katie and try to pinch her on the bum, that Ron was growing steadily more irritated that they weren't taking the game seriously, but all that he could think about was the fact that Sirius was gone and so much had changed since the meeting at Gringotts. Voldemort was still out there, lurking like the monster in one of the few Muggle movies he'd seen at the Dursleys, waiting to wreak havoc with the Death Eaters. That hadn't changed, but now he was _Lord_ Potter...it still seemed completely _mental_ to think he was a Lord. Sirius had done it, he said in the will, to give him resources...resources.

Harry quickly brought his broom to a hover and waved over to Fred, who happened to be the closest Weasley. "Think I've had enough. I'm going in."

"Harry, you can't!" Fred shook his head. "Snitch is still going!"

"No, it's not." Angelina flew over to them and pointed down on the ground. There, only a few meters away on the ground, flopping around like a very tired fish, was the shining gold of the Snitch.

The sudden realization that the Snitch was not caught and freely available to anyone led to almost everyone's attempt to get there first and claim the Snitch. Unfortunately, the placement of the shining object was also a few meters away from Hermione, who sat on a blanket in the sun reading a Muggle book. She had been quite thoroughly enjoying the book, which, if she was forced to tell, was a somewhat trashy romance novel about a dragon keeper who fell in love with a Veela; only the fact that she'd slipped a cover over it so that everyone else would think she was reading a somewhat boring book about runes kept her from being teased. She had been quite engrossed in a section with surprising detail about the particulars of dragon preserves when she heard the noise and glanced up to see everyone, with the exception of Ron and surprisingly Harry, hurtling down at her. She squeaked in surprise, the book shot into the air and she hurried away from the blanket.

As Ginny and Fred wrestled over the Snitch Harry landed, put his broom away rather hurriedly and made his way into the Burrow. Arthur was gone but Molly was there, sitting in her chair by the window, humming along with the wireless and knitting.

"Harry? Is something wrong, dear?" Molly paused her needles. "Are the twins..."

Harry shook his head. "No, they're fine. I...Sirius' will said something about resources. That I'll need to fight..."

"Oh." Molly sat her knitting in her basket and stood up. "I wondered when you'd get to that."

"Huh?" Harry gave her an odd look. "What do you mean?"

She walked over to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of tea. After taking another cup she looked over to Harry. "Tea?" Seeing his negative shake of the head she continued. "Arthur and I talked about it last night. You took everything so well that...it's understandable, dear. You were in a bit of shock. How are you now?"

He shrugged. "I don't feel any different. But...I've got family, or I had family. And Sirius said they had resources...and he left me things at Gringotts, personal things. I forgot all about that. What'd he leave me, and what kind of resources..."

Molly nodded and gave him a smile that caused crinkles around her eyes. "That's our Harry." She reached into her apron and pulled out a letter. "It came while you were out with the others playing Quidditch. I got one as well, they're both from Bill. He said to tell you after lunch to come to Gringotts and everything would be explained. It's a bit early, but maybe you can join him for lunch? I think that'd be rather nice, a good lunch to settle your stomach after flying and some time for you two to talk. Now go get cleaned up and you can be off." She shooed him upstairs. "Up, now, I won't have you going to Gringotts looking a sweaty mess." Seeing his slight eye roll Molly's voice softened. "Harry, you're Lord Potter now. You know it doesn't matter to us but others will judge you on appearances."

Harry snorted. "Like I care. The Prophet always...oh bloody hell! The Prophet!" He winced, expecting the worst. "How bad is it?"

Molly gave him an apologetic nod. "It...could be worse." She walked over to the table, pulled the sugar bowl off of the paper and dusted it off before handing it to him.

**GRINGOTTS ANNOUNCES BOY WHO LIVED BECOMES LORD POTTER! FIRST EVER LADY BLACK OF HOUSE BLACK!**

Two photos under the headlines moved in black and white; the first, a picture of him from the Tri-Wizard tournament, right after the first task. The second picture was of Tonks, in what looked like her official promotion to the Aurors photograph. Her hair was tied back neatly and she stood next to Moody.

Molly put her hand on Harry's shoulder and peeked over. "I do wish they would have put a better picture of you in the papers. Merlin knows they have enough to choose from, the way they're always after you. I think Tonks looks rather nice...oh." Molly caught herself before she could go on. "Right, plenty of time to read later, go on now, up you go, up you go." She took the paper from him and folded it in half, seeing the headline she had hoped he would miss. He shouldn't have to think about it; not today, at least. There would be time enough for that. Even though she wanted not to think of it it came back to her once again as she laid the paper on the table.

**VANCE FAMILY MURDERED; DEATH EATERS SUSPECTED.**

-ooo-

From her position prone on the sofa, arm over her eyes to block out the light, she heard the key in the door and knew immediately who it was. For a moment she thought of Apparating out of there before he could enter, but that would just cause more problems, just delaying the inevitable. The door opened and Tonks moved her arm up slightly and peered underneath it to confirm her suspicion. It was him; him in all his shaggy-haired Muggleness.

He walked over to her and knelt down next to the sofa, his head close to hers. "Bad night, eh, love?"

"Yeah, you could say that." She nudged him away slightly with her elbow and sat up, watching as he lifted her feet up and sat at the other end of the sofa. "Mikey, we need to talk."

"Oh yeah, we do!" He fished around in the pockets of his oversize leather jacket and pulled out a concert flier. "Bumpy's band got a gig, not a big one, but I told him we'd be there. Next Saturday over in that..." He saw the look on her face. "What's wrong, love?"

She licked her lips nervously and thought about what she had to do. Mikey was a refuge from everything going wrong in the wizarding world; with him there were no Aurors, no Dark Lord, no Death Eaters, no Order of the Phoenix. They'd met in a pub and he had been funny, slightly sweet, and not bad to look at, either. It had been a string of pub nights, shows for bands where he usually knew someone in the show because of his job, sweaty nights in, bad attempts at using the cooker that usually resulted in takeaway or late night chip shop visits. He wrote about music for some little magazine that was always on the verge of going under and didn't care that she said she was an artist that was still working on what she wanted to do, didn't care that she hadn't produced one single piece of art, he simply liked being with her. That was blatantly obvious when he had tricked her into a Sunday dinner at his parents' house. It had been wonderful in its own way; his parents, former punks who had squatted during the seventies and had turned into somewhat respectable people, had welcomed her in graciously. And now, now that all had to go away.

"I...I can't see you anymore, Mikey."

"Why? What's wrong?" He stood up suddenly, pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "I know I'm gone a fair bit, but you are, too. What's the problem?"

She stood up suddenly, wondering where she'd put it. Finally, remembering, she shook her head and started walking. "Hold on a mo, need the loo." After making her way there and closing the door she stood in front of the mirror, gripping the edges of the sink and looking at her reflection. "Has to be done. Fucking hell. Has to be done." She glanced to the right and saw it, on the shelf, behind the tissue box. She took the wand, several steadying deep breaths, and then opened the door.

He was standing by the open window, ashing out onto the roof, when she walked up behind him.

"_Obliviate."_

-ooo-

"He asked you _what_?" Bill Weasley sat down his fork and looked across the table. After a gobsmacked snort he shook his head. "Only Ronnie would have the stones to do that. I swear sometimes Quidditch is all he thinks about."

Harry gave Bill a weak smile, but he knew that Ron definitely thought about more than Quidditch, after all, they had spoken so many times about what was happening, how Voldemort was back, and how the world slowly seemed to be spinning off its axis. Ron had been there so many times, not counting when he went mental about the whole Tri-Wizard tournament, but he'd been there when it counted, with the DA, at the Department of Mysteries...

"Whoa there, Harry?" Bill looked over at Harry, who had suddenly gone pale. "All right, mate?"

"Yeah. Just thinking about Sirius."

"I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't know him well, just during the...meetings, but he was a good man." Bill wiped his hands with the napkin and placed it on the table, looking around the Leaky Cauldron to see if there was anyone around who could hear their conversation. They were in an out-of-the-way location, by request, but one could never be too careful these days. "That's why you're here today, right? The vault? I know it's not going to be easy, but just remember, he wanted you to have whatever's in there." He glanced over to Harry's mostly-eaten plate of food. "You want to finish up or are you ready?"

Harry shrugged and pushed the plate away from him. "Don't know if I'm ready, really, but it's time."

With Bill's assistance the normal procedures with the goblins went rather quickly. He was given the key to his new vault and didn't pocket it, instead he held it tightly in his hand as if afraid that if he let it go for one instant it would disappear into thin air. He held onto it as he joined Bill and a goblin into one of the carts for the ride to the vault, not really noticing that the trip was much shorter than the rides he had been on before. He was unaware that they'd stopped when Bill tapped him on the arm.

"We're here."

Harry nodded silently, exited the cart and hesitantly turned over the key to the goblin. Once the door was unlocked the goblin returned the key and stepped aside to let him and Bill enter.

The moment he stepped into the vault the torches lit, throwing everything into bright light, and for a moment he couldn't do anything except take it all in. Boxes, piled on top of one another were stacked in the corner. A small bookshelf stood against another wall, only partially full of books. A wardrobe against the far wall, dark wood gleaming as if it had just been polished. But most of all, there, in the center of the room, was a motorcycle, without it's engine. The engine was there, though, on a piece of canvas, leaning against the frame of the motorcycle.

"Well, that's something you don't see everyday." Bill nodded towards the motorcycle. "Looks like it could use a bit of work, though." He paused for a moment. "Think there's something you should read, on top of it." Bill nodded his head towards the motorcycle. "Go on, I'll just be here if you need me. Take as much time as you like."

Harry took a few slow steps towards the motorcycle, and with a tentative hand reached forward for the envelope on top of the petrol tank. On the front he could see Sirius' handwriting with his name in large letters. He opened it quickly.

_Happy Seventeenth Birthday, Harry!_

_I wanted to give this to you earlier, as it was your father's, but my unexpected absence of a few years made that impossible. Found out that Gemma had gone round to my place after things went to hell and cleaned all of my stuff out of the flat before the Aurors could get there. Brilliant girl, Gemma, still miss her. Such a shame. Ask Remus about her sometime._

_Your dad and I planned to get his bike up and running but things didn't go to plan. As for why it is in this state your dear old Dad tried to see if he could mix petrol with some different potions to make it go faster and ruined it. We were trying to fix it when he and your mum had to go into hiding. Needless to say Lily hated the bike and was quite pleased when it went wrong, telling him that he was a father and had no business tearing around London on a motorcycle. _

_I looked at a few things when I came to Gringotts to do the whole Black of House Black shite and I have to say some of it is rather embarrassing. I believe one box is full of Muggle magazines that show naked women, so you might not want to show that one to anybody. Wardrobe is full of Muggle clothes from back then, thought you might get a laugh at those, but there are some books, especially one book you might enjoy as you know how to __manage mischief__. _

_Now, as you're reading this and are now seventeen I expect a few things from you. By now everything is done and sorted and I expect you've got a bird or two or twelve that's interested in you. For the love of Merlin DO NOT use those magazines as a guide, trust me, that DOES NOT WORK. The motorcycle, on the other hand, is brilliant. Get it up above 60 kph and they really have to hold on tight. Worked for me more than once._

_Just do me a favour. Don't introduce any birds you're really interested in to me before things have progressed or else you'll be competing with your dear old Godfather. _

_With love, _

_Sirius_

Harry let his hand with the letter fall to his side as he looked at the motorcycle, its dark blue petrol tank and fenders contrasting against the bright chrome. The tyres were almost flat, that was understandable, but it didn't matter. It was his father's. Sirius had given it to him.

"Bill?" Harry turned to see Bill leaning against the door of the vault, lost in his thoughts. "Bill?"

"What?" Bill turned suddenly. "Yeah?"

Harry pointed towards the motorcycle. "Do you know anyone who could help me fix it?"

Bill walked towards the motorcycle and gave it a once-over. "Dunno, Harry. Not my area, you know. I would say that Dad could help but, um, you know how he is. End up in a million pieces and you might be able to ride it in a few years." He paused for a moment. "Ask the goblins, specifically the Potter account goblin. Sure that would help better than asking Dad. You know, Harry, I probably shouldn't be telling you this since I work for Gringotts, but the goblins do a lot more than most witches or wizards realize. I mean, um, they own parts of a lot of Muggle companies. I'm sure they would know who to contact to fix it up."

"Potter account goblin?" Harry gave him an odd look. "I've got my own account goblin?"

Bill chuckled. "Harry, mate, you're Lord Potter now. Of course you've got a goblin that handles your account. I mean, your family's an old one, from what I've found out. If you want I can take you up there after you're finished." He glanced at his watch. "Don't mean to be rude, but how long are we going to be down here?"

Harry shrugged. "Dunno. Why?"

"Well..." Bill smirked. "You remember Fleur Delacour from Beauxbaton, right? From the tournament?"

"Yeah, sure."

"She works here and..." Bill smiled brightly. "...we've been seeing each other. More than that, really. Haven't sprung it on Mum yet but...I asked her to marry me."

"That's brilliant!" Harry stuck out his hand. "Congratulations."

Bill shook his hand. "Thanks, yeah, she is brilliant. She's got a little flat here in Diagon Alley but the lease is over soon, so I'm trying to figure out what to do. Told her she could live at the Burrow but that would be a horrible idea. Her and Mum, in the same house? I'm not a Ravenclaw but that wouldn't go well. We're supposed to go look at a flat this afternoon, at four."

"Oh, you're fine." Harry looked at his watch. "I'm supposed to go to tea at...I'll be finished before then. I think. Will the Potter House goblin thing take long?"

"No clue, Harry. Sorry."

A smirk crept across Harry's face. "I won't be down here long, I want to look at a book, but according to Sirius' letter there's a box of magazines over there you might be interested in. Don't worry, I'm sure Sirius wouldn't mind." He stopped, nervous. "Bill, will the trace work down here? I have to use my wand to unlock a book. I think I do, anyway. Can they trace me here?"

"No chance in hell, Harry. Gringotts is not part of the Ministry, something the Ministry isn't very happy about, part of one of the goblin treaties. You could cast every spell you know ten times and they'd never know."

"Great, thanks." With that Harry went over to the bookshelf and began examining the titles, interrupted only by Bill's exclamation of shock when he found the magazines that Harry had mentioned. Ignoring Bill's muttered comments he continued glancing over the books. Some were old schoolbooks, textbooks that had been annotated with hilarious comments in the margins and some rather rude drawings, but one rather slim volume without any text on the spine drew his interest. The black, pebbled leather cover felt slightly warm in his hand, and when he tried to open it absolutely nothing happened. It was as if the cover was permanently fused to the pages. Taking out his wand he tapped it on the cover.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The combination of the wand and the words made the book's heat dissipate and the cover opened quite easily. There was no title to say exactly what the book was, and the pages showed the handwriting of more than one person, but it didn't take long for Harry to realize what the book was; there, in his hand, was all of the research of the Marauders. Notes on how they had made the Marauder's Map. The location and instructions on how to activate secret passages at Hogwarts. Potion recipes. Plans, doodles, everything that the Marauders had done at Hogwarts. Harry turned the pages reverently, picking out Sirius' scrawl, Remus' distinctive writing that he recognised from the comments on Defense parchment, which left two other hands that he did not recognise. One person had not written much, but the rather elegant handwriting, with swooping letters and precise quillwork surprised him when, through further reading, he realised that it was the hand of Peter Pettigrew. The hurried, somewhat incomprehensible handwriting, then, was that of his father. He studied the handwriting as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world; there, for the first time, were his father's words.

He didn't know how long he stood there, not reading the content of the words, but instead following along, looking at each letter as if it was his father, reaching out from the past. It was when he found the last ten or so pages of the book blank that Harry realised that if Sirius' little vault held a part of his father, what would the Potter vault hold?

"Bill?" He turned to find Bill sitting on a conjured chair, holding a magazine in an odd way; somehow the magazine was longer than it should be. "Bill?"

"What? Oh. Right." Bill hurriedly folded up the magazine and stuffed it back in the box. "Centerfolds, who knew? Right. Ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go see the goblins. I want to see the Potter vault."

One short trip in the carts later Harry stood nervously with Bill in an unfamiliar part of Gringotts. The front lobby of the bank was somewhat ostentatious, the vaults were dark, gloomy and somewhat frightening, but the part of the bank where he waited was jarring. Instead of all of the gleaming stone and brightwork of the lobby the little hallway was almost...homey. Light shone through the skylights in the high ceilings, almost reminding him of some of the more lofty areas of Hogwarts. The door suddenly opened and he was quickly brought out of his thoughts and almost mechanically followed Bill into the room.

Once again, like the hallway, the little office was full of surprises. Instead of something like the offices he remembered from Muggle school it was more like the Gryffindor common room, covered with tapestries, sunlight and comfortable furniture. Instead of the desk and visitors' chairs a small, low table stood between four rather lived-in and smooth leather chairs, a bookcase behind teeming with books and several plants that he would never be able to identify sat on shelves, some flowering, others wreathing about and extending tendrils towards other shelves, the windows and even the ceiling where a large, ornate chandelier made of silver hung, unlit. Most of all, though, what surprised Harry was the rather young, smooth-faced goblin that sat in one of the chairs, holding a folder. The goblin looked different, somewhat less menacing than the goblins he had met before, and he couldn't put his finger on why until he realized that the swell of the chest meant that the goblin was female.

"Lord Potter, Gringotts is pleased to meet with you. Please, take a seat."

Harry nodded and sat in a chair, still wondering if he'd ever _seen_ a female goblin, let alone met one. Thankfully, Bill took a seat next to him and made the introductions.

"Harry..." He stopped and glanced nervously over at the goblin who gave him a sharp look. "My apologies. Lord Potter, may I introduce you to Ælfgifu, the House Potter account administrator."

The little goblin hopped off her chair and curtseyed before Harry. "Greetings, Lord Potter. As Mr. Weasley may be unaware, I do not use my given name amongst friends, and I hope that we may be friends as well as business partners. You may call me Effie."

Harry nodded and stuck out his hand towards the goblin. "Very nice to meet you, Effie. Please call me Harry."

The goblin smiled, shook Harry's hand and then sat back in the chair. With a clap of her hands a young male goblin came in, deposited an ornate silver tea service and left the room. Effie poured tea for Harry, then for herself and gave Bill a pointed look.

"Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Weasley. I believe you have other business to conduct today, hmmm?"

Bill stood up, smiling brightly. "Thank you, Ælfgifu. Harry, just send Mum an owl and let her know your plans, ok? See you." With a nod towards the goblin Bill left the room.

Effie smiled, small pointed teeth gleaming slightly. "I introduced him to the Delacour girl. It was pitiful, really, the way they both looked at each other but wouldn't make a move." After a sip of tea she studied Harry. "I must say, Lord...Harry, I must say, Harry, that you've been rather polite. I would have expected you to ask me one specfic question by now."

Harry took his tea, sat back in the chair and held it with both hands. "To be honest, the last day or so has been completely...I don't know what to think, it's all been a lot to take in. Everything's so..." He shrugged.

"I understand. Most, when they meet me, express their surprise at meeting a female goblin. I am an embarrassment to Gringotts, the conservative ones, certainly, which unfortunately means most of the goblins. I do not know how much of your family history you have been able to read about in the Potter book, but are you aware of your family's more...enlightened perspective regarding inheritance?"

"Oh, yeah. Sort of." Harry nodded. "I read some of it, how it doesn't always go to the oldest male. Is that what you mean?"

"Precisely." Effie nodded vigourously. "Gringotts representatives to the old houses are inherited positions. Your family, back when Magdalene Potter was head of house, required Gringotts to align their procedures accordingly. Until my father there was an unbroken line of male Gringotts representatives. I am an only child, Harry."

He laughed. "Bet they didn't like that."

"Oh no, not at all." She tilted her head in reminiscence. "Not at all, but they acquiesced as it was after your parents' and grandparents' untimely demise. There would be many years, they thought, before our meeting here took place. I do believe they were trying to find a loophole, but Magdalene was quite the smart witch. Oh, no loopholes in those documents." She smiled at him, without teeth, a wistful expression on her face. "And now here we are, the two of us. I've been following you through the papers, Harry, but I tend not to believe the Prophet."

Harry let out an exasperated breath and snorted. Catching himself, he apologised. "Sorry, yeah, I don't believe much of what's in there."

"Good move. The truth moves depending on which way the wind blows at the Prophet. But, be that as it may, we are not here today to discuss the papers. I received word that you have been invested with your Head of House, Harry. Gringotts is here to assist you, but more than that, I am here to help you. Where would you like to begin?"

It didn't seem real. Harry thought back to all those nights, lying on that thin mattress in the cupboard under the stairs, wishing that he could find out anything about his parents, some scrap to let him know that there was a way out of the unending days at Privet Drive, and now, now there was a way to find out not only that but everything else. Resources, Sirius' will had said something about resources to fight Voldemort. Nothing could happen until that was done, not really. Not Hogwarts, not being Lord Potter, whatever the bloody hell that meant, not...Tonks. None of that could happen until that evil arsehole was gone for good. He cleared his throat.

"Sirius' will said that being head of house could help give me resources to fight..."

"Do not say the name." Effie shook her head, a dark expression on her face. "We do not say it here, but not for the reasons others avoid saying his name. He did not just destroy the lives of witches and wizards, Harry. Muggles suffered, yes, but so did goblins. And we do not forgive and we do not forget. We call him _khomnahgt_. In our language it means 'the condemned.' He should hope to not be found by goblins, as it we would not be as lenient as the Wizangamot."

"Tom Riddle." Harry's voice was flat. "His name's Tom Riddle." He paused. "Not too many know about that, his name. If there's anything that...if I've been left anything...anything that can help me fight Riddle..."

Effie leaned forward, this time with a grin full of teeth and anticipation. "I think we both need to find out, Harry. Your estate was sealed until you were investited as Lord Potter. As for the Potter vault is is not very helpful in regards to the resources you require. The hunting lodge, on the other hand, is still somewhat of a mystery. Our documentation is simply blank, only the explanation that once you took possession of the lodge all would be revealed. How would you like to go on a short trip to Scotland, Harry?"

-ooo-

Tonks stood in front of her parent's house, dreading the visit. She'd mostly recovered from obliviating her boyfriend, ex-boyfriend she reminded herself. Then shook her head again. Non-boyfriend. They'd never dated. She'd given him a memory of meeting her, of that visit to his parents' house, and then implanted the idea that it just hadn't worked out, they'd never dated and that he would forget her very soon and find a nice woman to make happy. Once he'd left she'd smoked the rest of the pack he'd left on the table, gathered the rest of his things and put them in a box. It wasn't much, a pair of jeans, a t-shirt that said 'Oasis' on the front, a manky-looking razor, some mixtape cassettes that he'd given to her and she'd never listened to, fliers from bands, magazines...the debris of a relationship. She'd dropped them off at the secondhand shop around the corner from her flat and used the alleyway behind the place to apparate to her parents' house. Now she stood there, knowing that it was time to go in, to speak to them, to get it all over with, but something kept her from walking the few feet from the pavement to the door.

Inside the tidy, well-kept house in the middle of an unassuming neighbourhood Andromeda Tonks paced around nervously. She stopped, glanced at a small globe on the mantle above the fireplace which was spinning, a pink glow covering the surface of the sphere. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and looked over at her husband, quite contentedly reading a magazine in his favourite chair.

"Ted! For the love of Merlin, what's she doing out there? She's been standing there for at least ten minutes!"

He eased the magazine down, rested it on his slightly round stomach and ran a hand through his thinning, fair hair. "Dromeda, give the girl a minute or two. She'll be in when she's ready. You know how she deals with things."

That comment was met with a roll of the eyes and a rather unladylike snort by the dark haired witch. "You mean how she _doesn't_ deal with things."

Ted raised an eyebrow, as he'd been having this conversation, or some variation of the conversation, ever since Dora had come back from Hogwarts her fourth year and, well, become more of her own girl. The fact that she wasn't Dromeda's little Nymphadora anymore hadn't sat well with his wife, who just couldn't quite realise that in regards to parental rebellion the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree. "Love, come now, give her a moment. It isn't everyday that you find out you're the first ever Lady Black and you've got to marry the number one prize on the Death Eater's hit list. Put yourself in her place."

"You always coddled her."

"So did you, just in different ways." He reached behind him and peeked through the curtains. "Now behave, dear, she's coming now."

Before Dora could open the door Dromeda opened it, the slight admonishment she'd planned to give her daughter dying on her lips. She had expected her daughter to be as usual; flippant, defiant, and headstrong, but the girl who stood before her looked shattered. "Oh my girl, come in. Come in."

Without a word Dora walked in and as soon as the door was shut she threw herself at her mother. Over Dora's heaving shoulders Dromeda looked over to Ted, unsure of what to do. She patted her back as her husband made his way over.

Ted tapped Dora on the shoulder and she repeated the process, holding onto her father. "There, there, Dorrie. Come on, now, it can't be that bad, can it? Come on, sit down and tell your old dad what's the problem."

A sniffing Dora nodded her head against her father's shoulder and then broke apart, taking her usual spot in her father's chair while her parents sat together on the sofa. In halting words she told them what had happened. They had no idea that she had been dating Mikey the Muggle music journalist for six months. They knew that she had been juggling not only the pressures of the Auror office but the demands of the Order of the Phoenix. As she related what had happened, what she had implanted in Mikey's mind before he left, Ted got up and went to the kitchen, returning with three bottles of lager.

"Ted!" Dromeda gave him withering look. "What will Harry think when he comes for tea and we smell like beer!"

He waved her off. "The boy won't care, after everything that's gone on he could probably stand one. Dorrie..." He turned to his daughter. "I'm sorry, duck, I'm sorry. And now, with this whole Lady Black business..."

"Oh!" Tonks took the beer and reached into her jeans. "Before I left I got this by special owl. Perfect timing."

Dromeda took the crumpled envelope and read the parchment. It was an official notice from the Auror office, that as Lady Black she was too large of a target to be an Auror, and as she would be a public figure now, she was hereby relieved from active field duty and would be assigned to the Public Relations Department. "Oh sweetie, I'm sorry." Dromeda handed the parchment to Ted and focused on her daughter, who seemed to be trying as hard as possible to blend in with the chair and still drink half a bottle of lager in a single drink. "I'm sorry."

Before anyone could respond the Floo flared to life, depositing the sooty and gobsmacked Harry Potter onto the floor. While Ted helped the boy up, and siphoned the excess Floo powder off of him, Dromeda went over to him.

"Lord Potter, welcome to our home."

Harry smiled sheepishly. "Thanks, just Harry, please." He glanced over and saw Tonks looking as if she'd just been told some rather bad news, but in his state of excitement he just couldn't contain himself. "I apologise, I'm sure tea would be great here, it's...how would you like to join me for a tour of my place in Scotland?"


	4. Ab Amore , Fortitudo

**Chapter 4: Ab Amore , Fortitudo**

All of the charmed and enchanted mechanisms were silent; there were no spinning devices, no lights, no constant hum to ease his worried mind. He sat at the desk, oblivious to all eyes upon him and steepled his fingers upon his chest over the long, white beard. It had all come undone. Not even the bowl of lemon drops could bring him comfort, not now. He had no idea how long he had sat there, in the dwindling light of day, when a sharp knock on the door brought him out of his reverie.

"Enter."

With a swirl of her robe underneath steps that seemed much too quick for someone her age Minerva McGonagall stood in front of the desk, face taut, lips pursed in disapproval. Albus knew his Deputy Headmistress quite well; after all, one does not serve that many years without knowing a person. He watched as she was, no doubt, trying to come up with the appropriate language to display her disapproval, very close to everything coming from the surface without further thought. Again, many years together at Hogwarts led him to believe that if he did not act quickly it would be a scene that they both, perhaps, would regret.

"Minerva, please. Sit." He motioned towards the chair in front of the desk and before she could speak he held up a hand to stop her. "I believe it is time to lay all our cards on the table, so to speak."

With a quick whirl of her robes Minerva gathered the fabric around her and sat rather abruptly on the chair. "I should say so, Albus! When I saw the Prophet I owled Molly Weasley and she told me of your little performance. Why, in Merlin's name, did you try to stop Harry from taking his family office? Haven't you done enough to the poor boy? Hasn't he endured enough at the hands of those horrible Muggles, and now, at Sirius' will reading, no less!"

He nodded. "I have to admit, not one of my better days. I did it for the boy's own good."

"Hmmmph." She gave him a disgusted look. "If this is more about the bloody 'greater good' you can save your breath."

"It was, in a way, but not as you suspect." He stood up, took a deep breath and walked over to one of the delicate silver instruments on the bookcase that was now as still as a statue. With his index finger he tapped one of the silver balls, sending it spinning around a little globe before gravity slowed its movement. Once it had finished he turned to her. "By becoming Head of House I can no longer protect him."

"Protect him? Albus, you cannot be serious!" Minerva shook her head vehemently. "What sort of protection has he had until now? Quirrell, the bloody basilisk, don't get me started on that damned tournament and I don't believe I need to mention what happened at the Ministry. How was that in any way protection?"

Albus sighed and nodded. "Unforeseen, all of what you have just said, all of that unforeseen. But by preventing him from being Head of House I've kept him from the Wizangamot." He saw her skeptical expression and continued before she could respond. "By becoming Head of House Potter, even at an early age, Harry would become an adult in the eyes of the law, an adult that would undoubtedly leave the protection of the blood wards. His attendance at the Wizangamot would not only be mandatory but known to every witch and wizard of good or ill intentions. He would be safe here at Hogwarts, behind our wards and protections, safe at the Dursleys, but now?" He held up his hands in a futile gesture. "I have only myself to blame. I counted on the love of his family, felt that they would treat him as one of their own, only realizing the damage that had been done much too late. Now, with Voldemort's forces moving openly along with the ones supporting his cause on the Wizangamot, even that unhappy protection at the Dursleys is gone." He pointed to a small golden square with several small levers pointing skyward. "This monitored the blood wards at the Dursleys. It is silent. He no longer considers Privet Drive to be his home, not even remotely."

"And whose fault is that? Yours. That is your fault, Albus." Minerva turned and stared at him, her cheeks flushed. "When we asked about him you just pointed to those damned instruments." She shook her head slowly from side to side. "I have had enough. No more. I will not leave him to those horrible politicians!"

"Oh, no." Albus shook his head and sat down again. "No, having him go in unprepared would be as if leading a lamb to the slaughter. I believe, Minerva, we will have to give Harry a different curriculum altogether. Hogwarts has begun that process; Mr. Filch approached me this morning after breakfast. Apparently he discovered a new room has sprung up next to the entrance to Gryffindor tower. The Potter crest is above a portrait of Magdalene Potter. Quite the imposing woman."

"His own quarters?" Minerva gave him a surprised look. "I did not know that was possible."

"Apparently it is. I consulted the portraits and Amrose Swott informed me that in 1702 Nathanael Greengrass became Head of House when he was a fifth year student. Other students have been named Head of their houses, of course, but they were of, how did Headmaster Swott put it? They were 'of _lesser_ houses.' And now..." He sighed deeply. "Now Harry has been thrust into yet another role, one that I hoped to keep him from until the threat of Voldemort was truly at an end. It is too much for one man, let alone a boy of just sixteen."

Minerva looked at him, studying him, as she knew when Albus was keeping something from her and every fiber of her being told her that there was more to the story. "What aren't you telling me, Albus?"

He reached over on his desk and picked up a small, glossy black pyramid. "This device is tied into the Ministry's trace. When Harry is somewhere where the trace is monitored, such as the Weasley home when he was at the Dursleys, even here at Hogwarts, it would pulse with a very soft blue light." He reached forward and sat the still, dark pyramid in front of Minerva. "He is somewhere beyond the trace, but more than that I hope he is not beyond forgiving me enough for us to prepare him for what is coming."

-ooo-

Tonks chuckled unconsciously as Harry picked himself up off of the red and blue oriental rug. Merlin's pants, the boy couldn't Floo worth a shit. After watching her father help him up and siphon away the Floo powder she looked across the room and directly into the unmoving eyes of a giant stag, it's massive head stuffed and mounted directly across from the stone fireplace, antlers stretching out further than she thought possible.

"It's a lovely room."

Tonks looked over to her mum, standing next to Harry, glancing around appreciatively at the space. It was, if she was honest with herself, rather grand, if you were an old man who liked to kill things and stick their heads on the wall. Part of the walls were paneled in a lattice work of wood, panels overlapping each other, all dark and aged as if they'd been standing there for centuries. She stopped herself and mentally laughed, it probably had been standing there for centuries. Antlers were everywhere, one wall looked as if it was nothing but antlers, but the leather sofas looked soft and deep. She walked over towards the window, moving aside the long, thin leaves of some plant and blinked a few times. It was nothing like the view from her flat, a mess of tangled Muggle wires and chimneys. Nothing like that at all. Instead two perfectly straight rows of trees formed a path down a hill, disappearing into the sky.

"Is Master Harry wanting tea?"

Tonks turned back to the room to see a house elf in, of all things, what looked like a shrunken down little Hogwarts uniform, complete with skirt and solid red tie against a tiny white shirt. Except for the lack of shoes and a robe it looked like what her mum wore when she attended Hogwarts. Harry looked over to her mum and dad, and when her father nodded slightly Harry told the elf that they would take tea in the room.

"That's Kipsey." Harry explained after the elf was gone. "She was my grandmother's elf." Suddenly he felt very nervous. "Sorry about changing plans and everything, but when Effie brought me here and we started looking at everything, and after meeting the house elves, well, I lost track of time. Hope I didn't mess up any plans."

"It is quite all right, Harry." Andromeda nodded graciously. "I was afraid we might have to reschedule, but this is very...grand."

Tonks heard her dad mutter something under his breath and noticed her mum twitch slightly. Hopefully they would make this a short tea, as she didn't want to have them do their 'polite fighting' thing and, more than anything, she just wanted to go back to her flat, get in bed and not come out until Christmas. Unfortunately, before she could think of an excuse to get out of there the house elf was back, levitating a massive silver tea service over to the small table between sofas and chairs. Her parents sat on one sofa, Harry sat directly across from them on the other sofa so she quickly deposited herself on the chair on the other end.

As the niceties of tea were observed she quickly took a cup, added three sugars and a dollop of milk and quietly sat and listened as her mum did the usual polite conversation bit. Effie, apparently, was the goblin in charge of the Potter account at Gringotts, something that took a bit of explaining for her mum comprehend. There had to be female goblins, of course, unless the little blighters swung that way and reproduced in some particularly nasty manner. Harry was enthralled with the place, that was for sure, as he told them that he'd only seen part of the house and met a couple of house elves. Apparently the place was thick with them, no heads mounted on the walls like at Grimmauld. Grimmauld. It was her place now, as Lady Black. The whole, dark, horrible mess of Grimmauld was hers. It hadn't registered, really, that as Lady Black it was her house now.

It was while thinking about that, and not really registering much of anything except the fact that the mounted head that looked like a bear with curling horns coming out of its head seemed to be staring at her, that she realised with a start that the conversation had ceased. Looking up she saw that her parents were gone, leaving only Harry sitting there with his tea, looking out the window.

She cleared her throat and sat down the tea cup on the table. "Great place, Harry. Really. Great."

He nodded without looking at her. "Yeah. It is. I mean, I never knew any of this existed. For years I didn't even know I had any family."

"Not all it's cracked up to be, that's for sure." She sat back in the chair and let her head lean back, settling into the soft leather and focused on the detail work around the edges of the cream-coloured ceiling. "Mum and Dad are great, and Sirius..." She paused. "I remember him from when I was little. He was my favourite. The rest of them?" She made a rude noise with her lips. "You know enough about them."

"At least you have them." Harry turned to her and then turned away. The silence grew until it was almost a separate presence in the room. "Sorry about the contract."

She lifted up her head and looked at him. He was sorry. "Not your fault, mate. I'd like to give your dad and Sirius a piece of my mind, though."

"Yeah, I bet my mum would, too."

He turned away from her and she felt her spirits fall. Poor kid, he'd been through so much and now she'd gone and made him feel even worse. Part of her wanted to say '_so what, big deal! I just obliviated my boyfriend! Get over it!_' But the other part reminded her of all that he'd gone through, that the most evil dark wizard in their lifetime wanted nothing more than to kill him, that he'd endured so much. He wasn't a bad kid, not really. She liked him well enough, but comparing him to Mikey he was just...a kid.

He turned to her, a hint of a grin on his face. "I talked to Effie about the contract. We can't get out of it, it's binding, but since there aren't the rules that some contracts have it might be to our advantage."

"Really?" She leaned forward. "How's that?"

This time he gave her an honest-to-goodness smile. "Usually, I guess, the contracts say that when they have to get married, um, like within so long after both of them are legal adults. Ours doesn't."

"Wait a tic..." She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "So..."

"We could be engaged forever and get married much, much later. Like a lot later."

Initially Tonks felt her spirits rise, giving her something she hadn't had since that damned day at Gringotts; hope. Then the realisation of what she'd done to Mikey hit her with full force. "Oh my God." She put her head in her hands and started silently cursing herself and her stupid, stupid idea to obliviate him.

"What's wrong?" Harry was over to her quickly, standing close by, unsure of what to do, how to comfort her. Ever since Gringotts when they learned of the contract it was like Tonks was someone else, the pink hair was gone, she hadn't greeted him with a single 'wotcher, Harry,' the confident Auror was gone. Instead of being the cool Auror in Muggle t-shirts who did funny things with her face she was...sad. "Did I say something wrong? I thought you'd be happy about that. I know marrying me must be the worst thing for you. I mean, yeah, I just found out I have this place, and I've got gold, but now I've got resources, but...I...Voldemort wants to kill me. You'll be in danger if it gets out and I'm not...I'm not Charlie Weasley, that's for sure."

Tonks snapped her head up in surprise. "What? What'd you say?"

He stepped back quickly. "Sorry. Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Harry's hands went into fists and then relaxed as if he was trying to will himself to remain calm. "I'm sorry you got landed with me." He turned and walked over to the window, not bothering to move the leaves from the plant out of his way.

She sat there, cursing Sirius and wondering how things got so bloody complicated. After a few deep breaths she stood up and walked over to the other end of the large window and looked out at the trees. "I'm sorry you got landed with me, mate. I'm no prize. And no, you certainly aren't Chuck, thank Merlin. I'll always love that boy but for the love of Helga he had a one-track mind." She glanced over at him and saw his embarrassed look. "Dragons, you prat. Get your mind out of the gutter."

"Sorry."

"Knock it off." She turned back to the landscape. "Dragons came first with Chuck, took me long enough to realise that. Hell of a confidence builder, coming in second to a beast that could incinerate you or bite your damn head off. I was going into Aurors and he was going to Romania. Wouldn't have worked anyway. Plus me an' Molly...she wasn't keen on me. Still isn't, really. That's how it seems, anyway."

"Nah, she likes you. Told me the other night."

"Hmmph." Tonks shook her head. "Of course she's going to say that to you, Harry, she treats you like one of her kids. Well, not exactly. You haven't got a Howler yet."

She sighed as suddenly all of her failed relationships spun through her mind. Charlie Weasley, Mikey, one of her Auror trainee classmates, the Muggle constable...and then she thought of how she had actually flirted with Remus Lupin for a while when she was at a particularly low point. The man was almost old enough to be her father, for Helga's sake! Sure, he was nice, and the werewolf thing didn't bother her, not really, but after a late night with her old Hogwarts roommate Cleo and too many bottles of wine she realised that she was forcing something that she really didn't feel. And now Harry Potter...Merlin's short and curlies. Now she was bound to him and he'd have to put up with her, the emotional trainwreck metamorphagus. Absentmindedly she picked at her hair and realised, with a shock, that it was the dark, curly hair of the Blacks. That told her everything she needed to know.

"Harry..." She watched as he turned to her. "I'm sorry you got landed with me. You're...you could have pretty much any witch you want, I bet, and you get me." Harry's laugh started small and then grew until Tonks became slightly concerned. "Are you ok?"

"That's funny, really. I couldn't get a date for the Yule Ball, only Parvati and Padma took pity on me an' Ron."

"What about Hermione?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Don't believe everything you read in the Prophet. That damned picture from the first task...I'd love to borrow a time-turner and go back and stop that, for Merlin's sake. Hasn't stopped Hogwarts from talking though. I'm pretty sure they think Hermione and I have been dating since first year. She's my best friend, her and Ron, that's it. It'd be weird dating her, almost like dating Ginny...she's like a sister. If I had a sister."

"I'm sure they'd be great for you, Harry." Tonks shook her head. "I'm not even an Auror anymore, not really. Because of this Lady Black shite they want to put me in public relations. Can you see me in PR? Really? And I'm a disaster when it comes to dating, let alone being married to someone. What am I supposed to do, sit on those boring Wizangamot sessions, vote on whether to increase the taxes in Diagon Alley and hold charity balls? Can you see me doing that?"

Harry smirked. "Bet the band would be good."

"They'd be _bloody_ _marvelous_. Keith Richards would scare the bejeezus out those old witches."

A shuffling noise behind them made them both turn to see Ted and Andromeda alongside Kipsey. The little house elf looked as pleased as punch, Andromeda somewhat surprised while Ted seemed as if he'd been hit with a Bludger.

"Dora, dear?" Andromeda nodded slightly. "I believe you and Harry should join us in the library. There's something you two should see."

Harry shrugged in confusion which made Tonks roll her eyes. They followed the elf, letting Ted and Andromeda walk ahead a little bit as they wound their way through the halls.

Once they were far enough ahead to prevent being overheard Tonks leaned over to Harry. "Any idea?"

"Nope. Didn't know I had a library. Should I tell Hermione?"

"Are you daft? She'd move in and her parents would...eh, they do let her stay with the Weasleys, so you might survive."

Before Harry could respond Kipsey opened the large double doors and ushered everyone into the library. Both he and Tonks looked around, trying to take it all in. Just like the room with the fireplace mounted heads dotted the walls; antlers, fangs and even a thing with tentacles watched as they followed Kipsey to the far bookcase.

Before they could ask Kipsey came forward and nodded rapidly at Harry. "Master Harry be needing to use the ring now to open it." She pointed at the framed Potter crest that hung on the outside of the bookcase, hiding several books. "Puts the ring by the crest and it works."

Harry gave Tonks an 'I have no clue' look and then went over to the crest, lifted up his right hand and pointed the ring at the center of the framed image. After a few seconds where nothing happened the frame lifted off of the bookcase, hovered in the air for a moment and disappeared. Before anyone could respond the bookcase began to shudder, scraping sounds were heard from the sides, and then the bookcase swung inwards, pivoting as a door. The blackness behind the bookcase was suddenly gone as torches on either side of what appeared to be a hallway framed with rough-hewn stone.

Everyone stared in disbelief until Kipsey stood in front of Harry. "Nows you see them all, they all be there."

For a moment Harry was unsure of what to do, but the combination of Gryffindor courage in addition to his sheer joy at possibly discovering even more family history pushed him on, into the hallway. Almost as soon as he entered the hallway the lights flashed a bit brighter and something seemed to glow a red colour on one of the walls. Moving closer he found himself looking at a name. A single name, no surname, only one name. Hereweald. He looked over to Kipsey. "Who's this?"

"The first." She nodded rapidly, her smile so wide it threatened to split her face. "He is the first of the family."

"Bloody hell!" Andromeda's exclamation shocked everyone. She covered her mouth for a moment and then smiled. "I apologise, but I thought the Blacks were an old family. Harry, I believe that's an Anglo Saxon name and, if I'm correct, it is an old form of Harold."

"Merlin's pants!" Harry shook his head. "Mental!"

Ted leaned forward and looked at the odd letters. "Harry, as old as that is, he probably knew Merlin. Maybe they were drinking mates. Don't know if they had pubs back then..."

"Ted!" Andromeda smacked him slightly on the back of his head. "Behave."

Kipsey couldn't contain herself, though, as the young master was taking too much time. "Come sees the new part, come sees! You's be on here, I knows you be on here!"

As they walked down the hallway the names grew, spindly lines all starting from Hereweald, names that, for the most part, Harry didn't recognise until he saw Magdalene Potter's name. She never married, did not have any children and designated Alfred Potter as heir. Moving on, eventually, he saw them; his grandparents and parents. It was real, just like the tapestry at Grimmauld Place, there was his name next to his parents, along with...

"Fucking hell! I'm on there?" Tonks leaned forward and looked at the wall. In shining gold letters, right next to Harry James Potter, there was a thin, dotted line to Nymphadora Euphemia Tonks, Lady Black. "Helga's tits, they got the middle name? _Nobody_ knows my middle name! It's almost as bad as Nymphadora!"

Ted leaned forward and tapped his daughter on the shoulder. "Euphemia was my gran, remember?"

Tonks waved him off. "Like that makes it any better. You were the one who let her name me Nymphadora!"

"We both agreed..." Andromeda stood next to her husband with a slightly offended expression. "...and it is a perfectly lovely name."

"Right. Sure." Tonks nodded sarcastically. "Like nobody could come up with a _really_ funny nickname with _Nymph_adora."

While Harry heard Tonks talking to her parents about her name it really wasn't registering, not really; instead, his head was spinning. _The magic of his family had recognised that he was to marry Tonks...what other magic knew about it? Would there be something at the Ministry? What about the Black family tapestry? He knew about the loophole that Effie found, they wouldn't have to marry right away, but what would happen if they tried to wait as long as possible? Magic contracts did really horrible things if you tried to break them...was it like an unbreakable vow, would it take his magic? What would happen then, there would be no way he could fight Voldemort. Would he have to marry Tonks sooner than..._

"What's it mean, Mum?"

Tonks' voice brought Harry out of his worries and back into the present. The others stood near an archway, words carved into the top of the arch deep into the stone. He glanced back at the dotted line between his name and Tonks' name then turned to look at the letters.

Andromeda elbowed her husband. "Ted, I believe this is your department."

Ted shuffled towards the archway, pulled a pair of eyeglasses out of his shirt pocket and perched them on his nose. "And you said becoming a translator wouldn't come in handy, Andy." He ignored the comments and focused on the letters. "Latin, that's easy enough. It's a motto, common to the old houses, both Muggle and magical..." Andromeda's throat clearing let him know she was ready for him to get on with it. "Right, right. 'Ab Amore , Fortitudo.' By love, strength." He motioned Harry forward. "Have you looked at your ring? Mottoes are usually on rings and such, families tend to want to pass those beliefs down from one generation to the next. We Tonks' don't have a motto but if we did it'd probably be something like 'Try not to do something stupid.' Let's see, what would that be in Latin..."

As the Tonks women gave Ted a hard time Harry looked down at his ring There were no words on the outside of the ring, only the stone and the black griffon holding a sword. For some reason that he could never fully explain he reached over and rocked the ring back and forth, loosening it slightly until it was free enough to take off of his finger. He held it up closer to one of the torches and there, in a thin, faint script, was Ab Amore , Fortitudo.

Harry held up the ring towards the others. "It's on the inside."

"Smart lad!" Ted nodded appreciatively. "Closer to the skin, closer to the heart. The Saracen wizards often had sapphires on the insides of their rings for the very same reason, but with them..."

"Theodore." Andromeda shook her head in irritation. "Now is not the time for one of your ancient wizard histories." She turned to Harry. "I believe you should go first. It may be tied to your family, only allowing you to enter."

With the thought of finding more family history, perhaps even the resources that Sirius had mentioned, Harry quickly put the ring back on his finger and walked over to the archway. With only a half of a second's hesitation he walked through the archway, expecting the torches to flare like they did in the hallway.

The torches did not flare. Instead Harry found himself flung up into the air, his arms and legs out wide, suspended and unable to move.

"MUM!" Tonks went towards the archway but was held back by her parents. "What's happening?"

Kipsey let out a wail and sank down to the ground, pulling at her ears. "No, no, no, no, no, Master Harry is good, he is, Kipsey knows it, she does, no, no, he is good, he is good."

Tonks changed immediately. Gone was the emotionally drained woman from before, unsure of herself and thoughts pinging around like a newly-released Snitch. Now, in her place, was Auror Tonks. She quickly knelt down next to the distraught house elf. "Kipsey, I need you to focus. Look at me!" As the little elf ceased wailing Tonks studied her intently. "What do you mean _Harry is good_?"

"Protections." Kipsey snorted and drew her hand across her nose. "Deep family parts of the house has protections, no dark magics, it stops it." She looked up at Tonks with wide eyes. "It says that Master Harry is dark magics!"

"Fuck." Tonks glanced up at Harry; he didn't seem to be in any pain but he didn't seem to be doing anything at all, including breathing. She turned back to the elf. "Kipsey, who's the oldest house elf here? Please tell me that's not you."

"No, Kipsey not the oldest, Verbel be the oldest."

"Go get him, now!"

With a shuddering nod Kipsey popped away. Tonks stood up and went to the door, examining it closely.

"Don't go near it, Dorrie!" Ted reached to pull her back. "I can feel it, it's pushing me back. It's like a stinging hex, but worse."

Tonks ignored her father and leaned forward slightly. She didn't get the stinging hex feeling, not at all, instead it felt as if it was a warm bath that felt just right. "Let go, Dad." When her father wouldn't relent she turned at him. "Dammit, Dad, I'm an Auror! Move back."

Reluctantly Andromeda and Ted moved away from the archway. With a deep breath, and her wand in her hand, Tonks closed her eyes and stepped forward into...nothing. No stinging hex, no warm bath water, just the dusty, undisturbed slightly damp air of a room underground that had been locked away for Merlin knows how long.

A pop on the other side of the archway drew her attention; standing next to Kipsey was an old, very, very old and wrinkled house elf. With a gasp the old elf walked towards the archway, staring at Harry. The old elf's eyes narrowed and he held his hands out wide, bringing them slowly together as if pushing the very air around Harry, a dark violet glow covering his body. Slowly the glow began to recede from his hands and feet, moving its way up his arms and legs, to his chest, and then it covered his head, finally covering his forehead and pulsing as if the glow was breathing.

All those hours training with Moody and the other Auror trainees paid off as when the old elf suddenly clapped his hands together Harry fell out of the air. Only her Auror reflex training kept him from landing on her as she reached out and caught him. She quickly lowered him down and began the field examination, but as she started the second diagnostic spell she knew that it was out of her league.

The old elf stood next to her. "Lady Black, Master has dark magics in him. Verbel has contained it. Master needs help. Bad, evil magics. Worse than goblin torture magics. Lady Black follows Verbel, take Master Potter to rest." He reached out and grabbed Tonks' arm and they disappeared with a crack that reverberated around the empty and rapidly darkening hallway.

"Ted!" Andromeda reached out and took her husband's hand. "What do we do?"

"Holy hell, Andy, I don't know. I don't know. You heard him, evil magic, worse than...that's it! Goblins!" He looked down to the pitiful form of Kipsey. "You know Harry's goblin, the one that was here today? Go get him!"

Kipsey nodded rapidly and then popped away. The hallway began to become darker and darker, the light of the torches dwindling rapidly.

As they hurried out of the hallway back into the bright, sunlit library Ted stopped and turned to his wife. "Any idea where we're going?"

She didn't bother responding, instead she thought of her daughter and cast a Point Me spell.


	5. Gifts

**Chapter 5: Gifts**

Effie sat in her office at Gringotts, reviewing the latest information on the Potter account. After so many years of inactivity, many of the accounts required restructuring. It was while reading about the profitability of a Muggle sporting team that the Potters had purchased decades ago, and had fallen on hard times due to its relegation to the lower leagues, that her duties took on an altogether different turn. A loud crack brought her attention immediately to the front of her office, combined with the unathorised apparition sirens that echoed loudly through the building, but the figue that stood before her caused her to stay her hand from the curved blade that sat in the hidden compartment on the side of her desk. The figure of a weeping house elf.

She hurried around the desk, as she knew that she had very little time to figure out what was going on before all hell broke loose at the bank. "Who are you and how did you get in here?"

The little elf shuddered, and through the sobs managed to get out that she was a Potter house elf, that Harry had 'dark magics' in him and was currently in a magical stasis at the Potter Lodge. It was all Effie could get out of her before her door burst open, the head of goblin security along with several guards and, unsurprisingly, the bank manager. It took some quick talking on Effie's part to convince them that the elf was not attempting a break-in, and by then the little elf was almost inconsolable.

"Verbel said Master Harry has dark magics!" The little elf couldn't contain herself any longer. "Verbel saids…*sob*...w-w-worse… *sob*…goblin torture magics…*sobbing wail* ...Kipsey comes, find Master Harry's goblin friend…*sobbing wail*…helps him! Comes quick, it is being bad, bad, bad…*loud wail*...Master Harry is good, Kipsey knows it!"

Effie took a look at Ragnok; the bank manager wasn't fond of her in the least. She knew that only the Potter account's status had given her the position she held. In all other matters most of the upper echelon of the bank simply ignored her or, at worst, treated her as some aberration that needed to be stamped out as soon as possible. She also knew, however, that Ragnok was very sensitive to political ramifications, that the Noble Houses were treated with extra care to ensure that nothing curtailed the gold flowing into their vaults. She looked over to him and decided to plunge ahead. "Director, it seems she acted as best she knew how. If it gets out that Lord Potter has been infected with dark magic, possibly even goblin magic…"

The director nodded angrily. "I understand the implications." He turned to one of the guards. "Bring the Shaman and a Healer to this office immediately." He turned to the female goblin, loathe to include her, but his hand was forced by the fact that all Potter properties were warded in such a way that without the damned female goblin none would be able to even see the place. "When they get here leave immediately." He paused and after seeming to come to some conclusion nodded sharply. "You are authorised to use any means to prevent exposure to Gringotts. I will expect a full report, in person, the minute the situation is settled." Without another word Ragnok stormed from the room, dark clouds gathering in his head, knowing full well that if Gringotts was connected to inflicting dark magic on a customer the fallout would be severe. Inflicting dark magic on the head of a noble house, specifically the Potter house, could be catastrophic.

-ooo-

Tonks lay on the massive four-poster bed, the limp and barely breathing form of Harry Potter in her arms. She knew that whatever the hell was happening was wrong, very, very wrong; if her Auror instincts hadn't told her that then the purple pulsing section around Harry's head definitely did. She examined his face for any movement, any sign of life but didn't find any. His green eyes were open but unseeing, unfocused, it was as if he'd been hit by a immobilous spell but the effects were quite different. She could move him slightly, his arms acquiescing to her repositioning, but other than that the kid simply had no control over anything.

"Mum?" She looked up at her mother with worry. "What the hell is happening?"

Andromeda's face was drawn and etched with fear. "I have no idea, Dorrie. I...I don't know."

Before another word could be said there was a very loud crack, depositing the little house elf Kipsey along with three goblins. She took them in quickly, as it was obvious that one of the goblins was dressed in the normal Gringotts banker attire, but oddly in a more feminine style. The other two, however, were unlike any goblins she'd ever seen. One of them, much older than the other two, wore a simple white robe, that wasn't that odd, but the other? The thin one, tall for a goblin, wore only a loincloth around its waist, but was covered in odd tattoos and wore bracelets of bone, a large skull of some animal on its head with the horns painted blood red. That was the one that approached the bed, pointed a stick at Harry covered with bones and baubles on the end and began chanting in a language that must have been the goblin language as she didn't understand it whatsoever.

Thankfully, before she could ask, the goblin dressed somewhat normally came over to her mum.

"Lord Potter's elf sent for us. Can you tell us what happened?"

Tonks sat there, holding Harry, watching as the crazy-looking goblin kept chanting and waving that damned stick around, causing different coloured lights to play over the bed, and listened as her mum explained exactly what had happened. Even though she had been there, had seen what took place, Tonks had a hard time believing what had happened. Harry, shot up in the air in that chamber, the old house elf doing something and that damned purple glob of light pulsing around Harry's head as if it was alive.

The white-robed goblin went over to the loincloth goblin and began speaking, her tone too low for Tonks to hear even if she understood the language. Gobligook, that must be it; she knew that the goblins had their own language, but it was seldom used in front of magicals. That lesson came back to her from Auror academy and it was if she was back there, sitting in the next to last row, listening to the lecture. The white-robed goblin called over the official looking one and they put their heads together and the words flew rapidly, one word causing all three of them to shudder.

"What is it?" Andromeda stepped forward, drawing the attention of the goblins. "Can you reverse the spell?"

The other two goblins stared at the official looking one, as if it was her place to explain. The little goblin nodded and turned to Andromeda.

"I am Effie, Lord Potter's account manager. The shaman and the healer have agreed; Lord Potter is afflicted with a..." she paused. "It is called _flahkgul_ in our language. I believe that wizardkind calls it a horcrux."

"Jesus, Mary, Joseph and Merlin!" Ted's outburst drew everyone's attention. "It can't be!"

"Ted?" Andromeda turned to him. "What is a..."

He shook his head rapidly. "Horrible, horrible, Andy. It's one of the most horrible things in the world. I've just come across references to them in the old texts, and when I say old I mean _old_. Really, really, old. Sumerian texts, remember I did research in that for the...never mind, it's a part of a soul, a soul anchor. Keeps a person alive even if they're, well, killed. A Sumerian wizard...he murdered his daughter to extend his life."

Tonks finally found her voice. "How the hell did Harry get one of these things in his head?" She looked down at him, and then, in the midst of the glowing purple glob, saw the famous lightning bolt shaped scar _pulse_, as if it was breathing. She knew. She knew how it'd happened, as everyone knew exactly who had given him that scar. "Voldemort!"

Effie nodded. "We believe you are correct, Lady Black. Lord Potter has a piece of Voldemort's soul within in."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Tonks looked at them with horror. "Get it out!"

"Shit." Ted turned to the goblins. "The vessels don't survive, do they?"

"No." The goblin with the skull headdress spoke, his voice creaky and harsh. "They are destroyed."

The white-robed goblin stepped forward as he could see what the shaman's words would mean to those assembled. "But we have ways to remove possession. We can attempt this, but only with Lady Black's permission."

"Do it!" Tonks glared at the damned goblins. "Get it out of him."

The goblins nodded and then the white-robed goblin moved Ted and Andromeda to the far wall, ordered them to stay still and under no circumstances interfere, no matter what they saw or heard. The shaman took out items from the leather pouch at his side and began drawing symbols on the floor around the bed, chanting the entire time. Tonks couldn't pull her attention away from the goblin, his words seemed to overtake her consciousness, the room seemed to disappear until the only thing she could see was the bed, the ring of symbols around the bed and the goblin spitting at certain spots, drawing blood with a bone knife and letting the blood spatter on other symbols and finally, at the last symbol, he lifted up his loincloth and urinated, the acrid smell making the hairs inside her nose seem to burn.

The shaman picked up his stick and it started expanding, lengthening and becoming thicker, no longer a stick but a large bone from something that was obviously not goblin or human. He pointed the stick at Harry and said a word that she didn't understand, but the thought of trying to figure out what was happening was banished from her mind as it all began.

Outside the circle Andromeda reached for Ted's hand and gripped it tightly as the purple globe began to dissipate into a formless cloud and before her eyes began to coalesce into...Voldemort. The shade hovered above Harry, and with glowing eyes the face turned to Harry. The voice of Voldemort made Andy grip Ted's hand even tighter as it began speaking...recounting the death of James and Lily Potter. Once it had seemed to finish speaking the shaman once again said a word that caused the light around the bed to flash, a word she didn't understand but innately knew was a word of power, a command.

The spectral being thrashed about in anger, causing the shaman to say the word again, and this time the shade could not refuse. In abject horror she heard of Voldemort's actions, how he had created more soul anchors, more horcruxes, and how the pitiful power of goblins, witches and wizards was at an end, that he would never die but would rule over all, his dominion unending.

At this point the white-robed goblin stepped into the circle, causing the shade of Voldemort to turn to him and laugh. The goblin pulled back the sleeves of the white robe, and after revealing a small, black knife, began to prick the end of each of his fingers. Once that task was complete he took his hands and shook them at the bed, covering both Harry and Tonks with the droplets of blood.

The effect was almost instantaneous for Tonks. There, holding Harry, she was suddenly inundated with images, detailed images, better than any pensieve, as she could feel everything. Harry being abused at the Dursleys, locked in the cupboad under the stairs without food, the loneliness of Muggle school, the encounter with Quirrell and Voldemort, the death of Sirius, everything that had happened to him, all of his worst memories, but more than that she felt it all, felt exactly how much pain and suffering he had gone through.

But then it changed. Instead of Harry's memories they were hers. Learning how others treated her when they found out her mum was one of the Black sisters, her struggles at Hogwarts, the heartbreak of realising that she and Charlie Weasley, her first love, were never to be...everything from her failures at the Auror Academy to obliviating Mikey. It all played out in an unending reel that she couldn't stop.

But it did stop. Everything stopped. Everything except the crazy goblin with the bones and Voldemort's shade. The two of them stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity until the goblin stepped forward, took the giant bone and broke it over it's knee.

Tonks watched as the purple shade of Voldemort screamed and then, disappeared. After that she looked down at Harry, watched his eyes flutter for a moment and look up at her, but then everything went black.

-ooo-

Harry slowly realised that he was waking up, but everything seemed...odd. A quick glance around made him realise that he was not at the Burrow, up in Ron's bedroom. There were no Chudley Cannons posters, instead there was a large window with ornate window dressings pushed back to let light in, a light that almost made his eyes hurt. He tried to think of the last thing he could remember, and realised that he'd asked Tonks and her parents to come to the lodge, they'd had tea and had gone down and looked at a room in the library...but that was the last thing he could clearly see in his mind.

He sat up slowly, taking a look around and saw that he was alone, alone in a very big bed. More than that, though, he only had on his boxers, which immediately made him nervous. _Who had undressed him, and why? What had happened?_

"Um, hello? Anybody there?" Almost as quick as the words were out of his mouth Kipsey popped in. He could see the little elf look at him worriedly. "Kipsey, what happened?"

She rushed over to him, jumped on the bed and stood over him, staring at his head. "Is Master Harry being well?"

He shrugged. "I guess. I have a little bit of a headache, but what happened?"

"Kipsey goes to get Lady Black and Lady Blacks family!"

After the elf popped away Harry hurriedly got out of bed and tried to find his clothes, but couldn't see them anywhere. A large wardrobe stood in the corner of the room so he went over and opened the doors, flipping through the things on hangars that seemed to be ancient. One grey robe looked like it might fit him so he hurriedly put it on, just in time as right after he'd wrapped it around him the door opened revealing not only Tonks and her family but Effie, his account manager at Gringotts. Andromeda was over to him first.

"Harry...how are you feeling?"

"I've got a bit of headache, but...what happened?"

Andromeda ignored him and put her hand to his head, moving his fringe out of the way and traced his scar lightly. "I...perhaps..."

"Lord Potter." Effie stepped forward. "You are very lucky to have such devoted and knowledgeable house elves." She saw how the boy had put on an obviously too large robe and nodded. "Once you are dressed all will be revealed." She turned to Kipsey. "We will take tea in the trophy room."

Harry watched as everyone seemed on edge, and Tonks gave him an odd look right before she left, but once they were gone Kipsey snapped her fingers and clothing began to pour out of the wardrobe, from dressers that he had never noticed, and the clothing all swirled around in the air until she plucked certain things out and laid them on the bed. She squinted at him for a moment and then waved her hands, causing the clothing to adjust sizes. Finally, her decision made, she snapped her fingers again and all the unselected clothing flew back into the proper containers.

"These were being Lord Charlus' hunting clothes when he was being a boy. I's sized them for you. Does Master Harry wish me to dress him?"

"No!" Harry quickly adjusted his tone as the elf looked as if she had offended him. "No, that's ok, thanks Kipsey, I'll do it." Once she'd left the room Harry took a look at what was on the bed. Heavy canvas brown trousers that had dragonhide on the bottom of the legs and on the inside of the thighs. A deep green shirt that looked like the polo shirts that Dudley wore except the one on the bed had long sleeves and buttons that were made out of horn or something similar. He laughed when he saw the socks, as Dobby would love them, orange and black argyle but soft to the touch. The boots stood beside the bed, tall, black and made out of something that looked like leather but wasn't exactly, not dragonhide but something else entirely. Not having any other options he shrugged out of the grey robe, tossed it on a nearby chair and got dressed. When he was finished he caught his reflection in a full-size mirror that hunt opposite of the room and stared as the Harry that looked back at him was almost someone else. All those years of Dudley's castoffs were gone; instead he looked as if...he was someone else entirely.

The knock on the door brought him out of his reverie. "I'm dressed."

Andromeda's head peeked through the crack of the door. "Oh, Harry. You look quite the sportsman." Her mirth faded quickly, though. "They're ready for you."

Harry followed her through the hallway, trying to take it all in. More mounted antlers graced the hallway, doors to rooms he'd never seen, rich carpets underfoot muffling their steps, until finally he and Andromeda began descending a wide, wooden staircase, eventually ending up in the room where they'd had tea before. Effie sat in a chair, her feet not reaching the floor, but the look on her face erased any possible humour regarding the situation. Ted sat on the sofa, his arm around Tonks. And Tonks? She looked terrible.

"Have a seat, Harry." Andromeda led him to the sofa next to Effie and sat down next to him.

After a long silence Effie began speaking and that was how Harry found out. The chamber he had entered was one of the old chambers under the Potter lodge, a chamber that was warded against dark magic. From there it was a whirlwind, hearing how the elves had protected him, how Kipsey had risked everything apparating into Gringotts, how Effie had brought a goblin Healer and a goblin Shaman to remove the dark magic...the dark magic of Voldemort.

Then it came back to him in a rush, flooding back into his head, all of it. Voldemort above him in purple smoke, telling about how he had killed his parents, how he had made things called horcruxes. The memories of all of the horrible things in his life had played in his brain as if they were the most detailed pensieve recording, but then he remembered other things, things that hadn't happened to him, they'd happened to...Tonks.

"Tonks?" He looked at her. "Did you..."

She nodded. "All of it. You?"

"Yeah, I remember it, too." He saw the light outside begin to dim, shadows starting to cover the room causing the runes on the lamps to activate and flare into life. "How long was I out?"

"Two days." Effie answered briskly. "Lady Black was incapacitated for one day." She saw his question begin to form and held up a hand. "We sent word to the Weasley family that you were exploring your new property and were not to be disturbed. As this property is protected by House Potter wards and you have not completed the procedures no owl can find you here."

He sat there for a moment, digesting everything. Finally, though, his features hardened. "So we can't kill Voldemort."

"No, that is not entirely true." Effie shook her head. "It is not impossible, but it will be difficult. We know of what the horcruxes are, but not their location."

Harry glanced over to Tonks. "Does Dumbledore know?"

She shook her head. "No. And I can't tell him, either." She leaned forward and looked over to Effie. "And nobody's explained why I could go in there to Harry, either."

"Ah." Effie nodded. "I spoke to Shaman Glaurk concerning that. Your tie to Lord Potter, as his betrothed, allowed entry. The House Potter wards recognised you and allowed you to go to him."

"Why can't you tell Dumbledore?" Harry looked confused. "He'd probably want to know this, since it is the way we can get rid of Voldemort."

Effie slid off of the chair somewhat ungracefully and walked over to Harry. "Lord Potter, the ritual to cleanse you is a sacred goblin ritual, it has never been performed on a non-goblin until now. The price that Goblin Nation requires is silence. None except those in this room may ever know of it."

Harry stood up and began pacing. "Well, this is bloody brilliant! We know a way to get rid of him but we can't tell anybody? What good does this do us?"

Tonks stood up and went to him. "We can't tell Dumbledore how we know but we can tell him that we know." She gave him a soft slap on the back of his head. "Come on, you know Albus. Say you found something in the Potter vaults or something, that your dad found something and that's why he went after...shit." She turned away and sighed deeply. "Sorry. But there's more than one way to skin a kneazle."

"Lady Black is correct." Effie nodded and focused her attention on Harry so much that he took a half step backwards. "Goblin Nation has authorised me to inform you that you will not be alone in your war against Voldemort."

"Merlin's pants!" Ted's exclamation made everyone turn to him. "What? You don't...there hasn't been a combined effort between goblins and wizards since, since..."

"The Battle of Aghkbulzk." Effie nodded. "Many centuries. But the time has come. How we know this I cannot say, but rest assured, Goblin Nation is committed."

"So..." Harry looked around at the faces. "Now what?"

Effie smiled, her pointed teeth obvious to all. "Now, Lord Black, now your education truly begins." She turned to Tonks. "As yours, Lady Black."

-ooo-

Harry sat in what must have been the office or library of a previous Lord Potter, based on the Potter crest that hung above the large desk. In front of him were several books that Verbel had produced from the chamber that he had entered, before everything went to hell. He sat there for a while, wondering what was happening elsewhere in the house. Effie had left not too long ago, promising to return the next day with 'assistance' but for some reason that didn't make him feel comfortable.

Why did everything always happen to him? It was bad enough that he'd always lived with the shadow of Voldemort over him since he'd entered the wizarding world, and he shuddered as he realized he'd live his entire life with a piece of that monster inside of him. _What had that done to him? Was that why he could speak Parseltongue? If that was because of Voldemort, what other things..._he shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. He couldn't think about that any longer.

Instead, out of nowhere, he thought of Tonks, what he'd seen. More than that, what he'd felt. She'd felt like an outsider, just like he had, but it was worse for her. He'd grown up in the Muggle world, finding out he was a wizard made him feel different, but she'd grown up in this world and had been treated badly, not for anything she'd done but because of who her family was, the Blacks.

Sirius. He wished more than anything he could talk to Sirius, to tell him what was going on, ask him questions, There was no way he was ready to be Lord Potter, of all things, and now he had to be Lord Potter and marry Tonks. He'd love to give Sirius a piece of his mind about that, but more than that we wanted to talk to him about Voldemort and the damned horcruxes. According to Effie they could be anywhere. A soft knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts.

"Wotcher, Harry." Tonks walked in, her hair not quite pink but more of a deep shade of purple, as if she'd tried to get it to go pink and it couldn't make the full change. She gave him a weak smile and dropped into the chair in front of the desk. "Read anything interesting?"

"Haven't opened any of them. Just thinking."

Tonks nodded. "Yeah, I bet." She paused for a moment. "So, when the goblins did their bit I saw...did you..."

He nodded, blushing slightly. "Yeah. Me too. All of it."

"Bloody hell." She sighed deeply. "That was some private stuff."

"Tell me about it." Harry ran a hand through his hair.

"Hey!" Tonks sat up. "Your ring just flashed!"

"What?" He put his hand out in front of him and stared at the ring. She hadn't lied, it was faintly flashing, the gold around the stone shimmering. "What's that mean?"

"You're asking me?" She chuckled sarcastically. "No clue, mate." Out of the corner of her eye she saw something on the desk replicate the glow. "It's that book."

Harry glanced down and the book that Verbel had brought from the chamber seemed to mirror the glow from the ring. With the hand that wore the ring Harry reached forward and opened the book. The moment that Harry touched the book a bright light shot out from the pages and engulfed him.

"Harry!" Tonks shot up out of her seat and went over to him and, without thinking, reached out and touched his shoulder. After she had made contact with him the light expanded to envelop her as well. She looked over to Harry and saw that his green eyes were glowing slightly. "What the hell?"

The light flashed very brightly, causing both Harry and Tonks to close their eyes. When they opened them again they were at the desk, but instead of being in the office it stood in the middle of a vast, rolling plain of green. Trees encircled the area, a clearing of sorts, and the wind blew softly through the leaves. Somewhere a bird sang, just a final proof that they were no longer in the lodge.

As Harry and Tonks stared at each other a figure emerged from the trees, walking slowly. He was tall, very tall, a bearded man in ancient looking clothes. Tonks went to reach for her wand but realised that it was gone. The man kept walking towards them, but he held his hands up in a gesture of peace, a wide smile upon his face.

Finally the man stopped in front of the desk. "Well met, my son."

Harry gulped and looked over at the man, taking in his dark, long beard and wild hair, specifically the way the hair seemed to try to escape from the rough ponytail. He locked eyes with the man and knew innately that the man was a Potter.

The man chuckled. "Yes, my son, I am Hereweald. I am the first. You are the last."

After a series of deep breaths Harry looked up at him. "Where are we?"

Hereweald raised his hands as if in prayer, looked up at the sky and then to Harry. "Where it all began. This is where everything began. Your great need has summoned me."

"Huh?" Harry glanced up at Tonks, but she wasn't any help as she continued to stare at Hereweald. "I didn't summon you."

"Aye, you did, son." Hereweald pointed to the book. "You fought great evil, you have the ring. You opened the book."

Harry looked down on the desk and there was the book, but the page was as blank as a new piece of parchment. Very, very old parchment. "I don't see anything."

"No." Hereweald shook his head slightly. "There are no words. Only in great need can I be summoned, and only once, so we must make use of what time we have been given. You, Harry James Potter, Lord of my house, have great need. Very great need." The wind began whipping faster through the trees, leaves rustling as if in applause, and all other sounds dropped away. Hereweald walked closer, to the front of the desk and stared at Harry. "The evil within you is no more, but you will need strength to be victorious. I cannot give you everything, there are limits, but with your mate the two combined may succeed where others would fail." He paused. "What do you know of your lineage?"

Harry's laugh came out without thought. "Nothing!"

"It is as I had feared." Hereweald closed his eyes for a moment but then stared at Harry. "I cannot teach you what you should know, my time is limited. With your lady you must search what my descendants have left for you, you will find gifts and knowledge but know, with knowledge comes a price. When the time comes you will be forced to make a decision, I only hope it is not too much for you to bear."

Harry glanced up at Tonks again, but this time her face clearly expressed her worry. For a reason he couldn't quite explain Harry reached over and took Tonks' hand, bringing her out of her state of semi-shock. She looked over at him, eyes wide.

Hereweald smiled. "Good, very good. Together you will be a formidable match. The fates have decreed it so, I see the signs." He stopped and held out his hand. A massive wooden staff snapped into it, materialising out of thin air. He pointed it at Harry. "By the first god, the god that gave man magic, by the first god I give you my gift. Preserve my house, Harry James Potter, Lord Potter of House Potter!"

The top of the staff erupted in flame. The tendrils of the fire danced and slowly began coalescing into a large, fiery griffon. The griffon swirled around the flames, circling, gaining speed, until it lifted up away from the staff and began flying around the circle. Harry watched the griffon go faster and faster until suddenly it stopped directly across the clearing from him, stared at him, and then flew into his chest, covering him in flames.

Tonks screamed in surprise but before she could act the flames partially lifted up off of Harry and covered her as well. She locked eyes with him and then everything changed.

Once again they were in the library. The torches along the walls flickered as normal, the books lay on the desk, and once again the walls and ceiling covered them. Tonks looked over at Harry but instead of the usual green his eyes seemed to be the swirling orange-red of the fiery griffon. "Harry?"

"Tonks?" He looked at her oddly. "I...I feel really tired."

"Your eyes..." She reached over and pulled his face up to get a better look. The fire seemed to surge and then faded, revealing the normal bright green of Harry's eyes. "It's gone now, but your eyes...it was like the griffon." She paused. "Did that really happen?"

"I think so." Harry closed his eyes. "I'm really tired."

Tonks' worry began to increase. "Kipsey!"

"Lady Black be needing...Master Harry!" Kipsey rushed over to him. "He be needing rest!"

The little elf took Harry's hand and popped away, leaving Tonks alone in the library. She sat back in one of the chairs, staring at the books on the desk. _What the hell had just happened? What was that the ancient guy said, that he would give Harry a gift? And together? They would be a 'formidable match?' What in Merlin's name did that mean?_

-ooo-

In a small sitting room in the far wing of the lodge Ted watched Andromeda pace. He knew his wife, knew that she processed things by pacing, working things out until she came to whatever conclusion. He also knew better than to interrupt her when she was like that, so he turned back to the book. After the whole startling ritual the goblins had done he'd asked the old house elf Verbel to send an elf to his house to pull things from his library. He'd expected the elf to decline; after all, it was a Potter house elf and he wasn't a Potter, but the elf had readily agreed, saying something about he was the father of Lord Black's betrothed.

That had knocked Ted for a loop. In all of the insanity with the horcruxes he'd forgotten exactly why they were at Potter lodge. It was all too strange and sudden to seem real, little Dorrie being Lady Black and having to marry Harry Potter who was now Lord Potter. All of it strange.

He turned back to the book on Sumerian magic but hadn't made it more than a page when Dorrie came rushing into the room, talking fast, something about Harry's first ancestor, gifts, a bunch of things that didn't make sense. Andromeda tried to calm her down, to try to figure out what had happened, but then he saw it. Dorrie had pushed her hair out of her face, hair that was a deep blue, and he'd seen it on her wrist. He got up from the chair quickly and went over to her, pulling her hand away to where he could see.

There, in red, on the inside of Dorrie's wrist, was the red image of a griffon. The griffon of House Potter.


	6. Slightly Calm Before the Storm

**Chapter 6: Slightly Calm Before the Storm**

Lady Calista Greengrass sat in the garden, the remains of a light breakfast on the table in front of her, engrossed in the Daily Prophet. The news was not good. Somerset had been attacked, the excuse given to the Muggles was that a hurricane had caused the destruction, but the Prophet reported that it was the work of giants. Giants, undoubtedly under the command of Voldemort. With a gesture of disgust she cast the paper onto the table, took up her tea, and after a slight warming charm looked out over the manicured expanse of her garden. Voldemort, Death Eaters and giants may be out there somewhere, but at least in her little refuge she could pretend that they didn't exist.

That fantasy did not last long, though, as she heard her daughters squabbling through an open window. Astoria was, if she was honest with herself, being quite difficult these days, especially after she had inadvertently admitted to having a crush on Draco Malfoy at supper the other night. Daphne had set upon Astoria at once, telling dreadful tales of the Malfoy boy until finally Edmund had to wade in and make them stop. Calista had hoped that her daughters would follow her example and be sorted into Ravenclaw but they were too much like their father and had both ended up in Slytherin.

Calista watched a bird land upon a branch and begin to sing, such a happy song, one that could not quite breach the dark thoughts gathering in her mind. Edmund was a Slytherin, but she knew that he was not one of those Slytherins, the ones that had come willingly to Voldemort's banner the first time. No, Edmund was not like them, he was a _true_ Slytherin; ambitious, cautious, one who worked in the background when possible, an upstanding member of the Wizangamot. Oh, how he had whisked her away from her boring family and thrust her into the heady world of the wizarding nobility, something that, to her surprise, she found she enjoyed and was quite comfortable with, her abilities to get on with people and be the perfect Lady Greengrass was something that she rather enjoyed. Something that, if things progressed on their current path, her daughters would never experience. Daphne had told her in letters, and then after returning from Hogwarts, that Voldemort was recruiting from the Slytherin students, that treading the neutral path was soon to be an untenable position. Daphne did not worry her overmuch; the girl was smart, level-headed, willful...she reminded Calista of her grandmother in that respect. Astoria, however...the girl lived with her head in the clouds, dreaming of being a Lady of the Manor. Currently that dream was to be the Lady of Malfoy Manor, a thought which made Calista shudder. _If they had only been sorted into Ravenclaw!_ She sat down her teacup on the table without looking and stared out over the topiary hedges, the rows of dragons that Edmund enjoyed so much, her thoughts flashing quickly, unable to quiet the storm. If what Daphne had said was true, and she had little reason to doubt her daughter, no other houses trusted anyone in Slytherin, Slytherin house was choosing sides, and soon there would be no other way forward for her daughters except to choose whether to be like the Malfoy boy or to go their own way. Going their own way alone, as no one would trust them.

She sat there for quite some time until one of her house elves appeared, an envelope on a silver tray.

"Oh? Thank you, Blip." Calista took the envelop and peered at it. _Why would Gringotts be sending her a letter?_ All the official documentation went to Edmund. She opened the letter and couldn't stop the small gasp. After reading it a second, then a third time she quickly left the garden. She had to speak to her husband.

Edmund Greengrass sat in his office, stocking feet up on the desk and puffed away at a pipe while reading a book. His book on Muggle investing strategies was soon forgotten, though, as his wife came bursting through the doors.

"Bloody hell, Callie, what is it? What'd the girls do this time?"

She shook her head and thrust the letter into his hands. "It's not the girls, Ed. Well, it's Daphne. Read."

He took the letter and made it half way through when he looked up to his wife in shock. "Did you know about this?"

"Are you mental? Of _course_ I didn't." She sat on the edge of the desk. "Bloody hell, what an agreement. How long ago..."

"Ages and ages." He tapped the parchment. "And it only goes through the women in your family."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Of course, Ed, you can't be a lady in waiting if you're a _man_." A sudden spring of hope crept into her chest. "Ed...if that letter is real..."

"Course it's real, it's from Gringotts."

She shook her head. "Never mind that, but think, Ed. Black and Potter in a marriage contract...think, you're the Slytherin. If my ancestors were ladies in waiting to the Potter women, or the Potter brides, however far back that may be, then he can protect them."

Edmund Greengrass was not the most devious Slytherin. The sorting hat didn't place him in the house of snakes due to his tendencies for manipulation, it placed him there due to his ambition. The House of Greengrass was a minor house, one of the houses that were 'new blood' according to the Wizangamot even though his family had been a member of that august party for two centuries. Edmund was sorted into Slytherin because he wanted to make the House of Greengrass more than a minor house, but not through shadowy agreements like some Slytherin houses; instead he wanted to raise his house by the sheer force of his business acumen. Sometimes that meant swallowing a bit of pride or making a deal on something that was only marginally legal, but for the most part everything was above board. He wasn't much of the 'wheels within wheels' type of Slytherin, but even he could figure out what his wife meant. "They'll see the girls as trustworthy, if Potter vouches for them then..." He stopped. "What about Tori? Letter says it's to be the eldest daughter."

"We'll figure that part out later. Come on, we need to talk to Daphne. And put some shoes on, for Merlin's sake."

-ooo-

Nymphadora Tonks sat in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, confused and nursing a rather large cup of black coffee. A cup of coffee that Kreacher, the odd little cranky bastard, had very unwillingly produced for her. She sat there with the coffee as her mum sat across from her, flipping through what looked like a catalog.

It had been a very hard few weeks for Tonks. From the will reading at Gringotts to the whole marriage contract to going out to Potter Lodge, not to mention obliviating her ex-boyfriend when she didn't really need to, cap all that off by being effectively sidelined as an Auror and then...then the whole thing with Harry and the goblins and his slightly creepy ancestor. Once the furor had died down and the Healer insisted that Harry be left to recover she'd wanted to go back to her flat, but her parents wouldn't let her, so then it had been two weeks living in her parent's house, being treated as if she was sixteen again. That was a ton to take in but, now, here she was, sitting with her mum in her 'new' house while Harry was reportedly _still_ sleeping or otherwise unavailable at the lodge. "Lucky bastard." She mumbled the words and took a drink of coffee.

"Hmmm?" Andromeda looked up from the catalog. "What was that, dear?"

"Nothing." The word came out in a tone that she wished she could take back, as Tonks knew her mum would have something to say about it. She was right.

"Dorrie, dear, it can't be helped. The Wizangamot ceremony has been called and you have to attend."

Tonks rolled her eyes. "And I'll just wear a Wizangamot robe, dunno why you're looking through all that."

Andromeda fixed her daughter with a pointed look. "Nymphadora, before you receive your Wizangamot robes you are presented and have to take your oath. I will not have you showing up looking like...like you usually do. Remember, you are Lady Black!"

"So? Sirius wouldn't care."

"No, he would not, but I do. If you are to be taken seriously you must act the part or, Merlin, at least look the part." She flipped a few pages in the catalog, found what she was looking for and turned the catalog around so her daughter could see. "I think the lilac one would look lovely on you."

Tonks pretended to vomit. "That's horrible! Mum, it's 1996, not 1926!"

Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Fine. What about this one?" She flipped a few pages and pointed her finger at a bright blue dress.

"Are you having me on? That's worse than the other one!" Tonks stood up. "You know what, I think I'll go back to my flat and..." She saw her mum shake her head. "So I still can't go back to my flat? Why not?"

"Because Kreacher brought everything over here. I believe your things are upstairs in one of the bedrooms. If I know Kreacher probably the master bedroom."

"Oh fuck me, really? Dammit!"

Tonks shoved herself away from the table and began to head upstairs, muttering loudly about people not asking her permission to do things, when the unmistakable sound of Walburga Black began shrieking from her portrait. Tonks stood there for a few moments, listening as Walburga ranted on and on about how the House of Black was being desecrated, how mudbloods and abominations and such were destroying their noble name until she'd had enough. With stomping steps Tonks went over to the portrait, tripped again on that damned troll-leg umbrella stand, recovered enough to stomp over to the noise, threw back the little curtain and stared at the old lady.

"Enough! I've had enough of your shit! You know what, I didn't fucking ask for this, I never wanted to be bloody Lady Black, but nobody asked me! Nobody asked me if I wanted all the stuff out of my flat and brought here, nobody asked me if I wanted to marry Harry Potter, for Merlin's sake, nobody asked me if I wanted to sit on the Wizangamot, nobody asked me a bleeding thing so for the love of Merlin would you SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Walburga's face turned purple with rage but when she went to yell back...nothing came out. As her eyes went wide she reached up to her throat but nothing came out.

"Ha!" Tonks pointed at the portrait. "Finally! Finally found something good about being Lady Black! Take that, you old bitch." Without another word she turned and went upstairs.

In the kitchen Andromeda closed her eyes and sighed. It was not going well at all. She saw a plate of biscuits and a cup of tea levitate in front of her and settle slightly, followed by her husband sitting across from her.

He looked at the catalog and laughed. "Really, Andy, you think you're going to get her to wear something like that? Have you really forgotten all those Easters when my folks were alive?"

"No, I haven't. I haven't forgotten, I just hoped she was past that by now."

"Right. Good one." Ted plucked a biscuit from the table and popped it in his mouth. After chewing and a sip of tea he chuckled. "Remember when you bought her that little yellow dress with the ducks on it?"

"Of course, her first bit of accidental magic. As soon as I put it on her she changed it into her grubby trousers and a t-shirt." She sat back in the chair. "What are we going to do with her, Ted? It's bad enough that she's Lady Black now, but what about the business with Harry?"

Ted nodded. "True. If it was just a regular marriage contract that'd be one thing, that worked out fine for my grandparents, happily married for years, but this bit with..."

"Tom." Andromeda finished for him. "Harry said when we speak of him to call him Tom."

"Seems weird as hell to call him that, sounds like a guy you'd meet in the pub for a pint or two." Ted ran a hand through his sandy hair. "But this business with Tom has me worried. And that thing on her wrist? That's the Potter crest, it didn't just show up for the hell of it. What's that mean?"

"I have no idea, love."

"Hmm..." Ted stroked his chin. "Maybe we should ask Potter's goblin? I'm sure he can fill us in."

"She. She." Andromeda shook her head. "How many times have I told you, Ted, Harry's account goblin is female." Andromeda heard the Floo roar to life. "Would you get that, please? I'm at my limit for today."

-ooo-

Tonks stood in the master bedroom of Grimmauld Place, surrounded by boxes and stuff everywhere. It was obvious from the way things had been handled that Kreacher didn't like her much; she'd seen the way Harry's house elves treated him, and of course the house elf she inherited was just the opposite. As she looked around the room she tried to find where her clothes had gone and hoped that the big pile in the corner would have one box with her clothes; at least there were a couple of dresses in there that weren't too bad. The first box was packed full of her kitchen things, pots, pans, silverware. She sat that one aside and looked in the next one. It was when she realised exactly what was in that box that she began to really hate the old elf.

"That little fucker, I'll hex him eight ways from Sunday." A knock on the door only made her angrier. "Go away, Mum!"

"I'm not your mum."

Tonks turned quickly to see a blonde girl standing in the doorway, wearing a rather formal robe. "Who are you?"

"Daphne Greengrass, my lady." The girl gave her a quick curtsy.

"Cut that out." Tonks rolled her eyes. "I hate that shit. What are you doing here?"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"Are you thick or something? I just asked you that." She paused for a moment. "Greengrass...are you related to Edmund Greengrass?"

She nodded. "He's my father."

"Ah." Slowly the pieces came together for Tonks. Edmund Greengrass was Lord Greengrass, a Wizangamot member. He'd probably sent the girl over to help her out. "Ok, so you're the welcoming committee. Great. Thanks for welcoming me to the Wizangamot and all that shite, tell your dad I'll see him later, then." She turned back to the box, expecting the girl to leave, but when she didn't hear the door close Tonks looked back to the doorway. "What?"

The girl wrinkled up her nose. "Is that...why do you have a box of rubbish?"

"Because I inherited a house elf that hates me. Packed my entire flat, including the rubbish bin." Tonks smashed an empty beer can into the box and closed the lid. "So I take it you're not the welcoming committee?"

"No. Well..." Daphne thought for a moment. "Sort of. I got a letter from Gringotts."

"Oh boy, here we go again." Tonks stepped over the boxes and went towards where a small sofa was covered with Muggle albums. A quick wave of the wand and the albums were levitated onto the bed, giving them some room. "Ok, better tell me what the latest is. Let me guess, we've got a marriage contract?"

"What? Us? No!" Daphne shook her head. "I think this letter explains it better than I could."

After the two witches sat on the sofa Tonks took the envelope from Daphne and began reading. Finally, after a few sarcastic laughs, she handed the letter back to Daphne.

"So, since I'm the future Lady Potter you're my lady in waiting? Because your ancestors were ladies in waiting to a Lady Potter way back in, like, Merlin's time or something?"

"Yep." Daphne nodded. "Mental, right?"

"Oh yeah, mental. So what's that mean? Lady in waiting?"

Daphne eyed the room for a moment and then took in exactly what Lady Nymphadora Tonks Black was wearing. "Well, first of all, I will help you with your wardrobe. You can't walk into the Wizangamot like that."

"Well no shit. My mum's been on me all day about the very same thing. So what, please don't tell me we have to go shopping. I bloody well hate shopping."

Daphne looked at her oddly. "Why would you go shopping? I've heard of some of the ladies doing that, the Muggleborns love to talk about that, and Madam Malkin has some decent things, but you are Lady Black. My mum's Lady Greengrass and has always said that for the proper occasions a lady needs to have something personally tailored for the proper effect." She stood up and took out her wand. "But first we need to clean this place."

"Ah, ah, ah!" Tonks waggled a finger at her. "Underage magic."

Daphne smiled broadly. "A lady in waiting must be able to use magic. No trace." With a flick of her wand the boxes began to move, stacking one on top of the other. She then turned to Tonks. "Could you please call your elf?"

"Sure." Tonks shrugged. "Kreacher!"

The old house elf arrived with a crack and from the expression on his face he was none too pleased to have been summoned. "Mistress has called Kreacher?"

"Yeah, I did." Tonks stared at him, uncomfortable with all of the 'mistress' and 'Lady Black' stuff. "Please bring me the catalogs my mum has been looking at. I think they're in the kitchen."

Kreacher popped away without a word and almost as quickly returned, tossed the catalogs on a box and popped away.

"Bloody elf, can't stand him." Tonks picked up one of the catalogs and started to hand it to Daphne when she suddenly stopped. "You know about my contract."

Daphne nodded. "I do. So do my parents, but we've been bound to secrecy, apparently by reading the letter we activated an old agreement or something. Your secret is safe with me."

"Hmmmm..." Tonks looked at her for a moment. "I suppose. Wouldn't happen to have that secrecy agreement on you, would you?"

Daphne was prepared; after all, if someone just showed up at her house professing to be a lady in waiting she would require proof as well. She took the letter out of her robe and handed it to Tonks, watching as the older woman read the agreement. While Tonks was reading she mentally compared her to the other ladies of the Wizangamot, not only the ones with seats and voting rights but also the spouses, mistresses and daughters that she'd met over the years when her father had entertained. Her mum had informed her that as a lady in waiting it was her job to prepare Tonks for her new role, specifically in regards to attire. Noting the Auror's casual Muggle wardrobe Daphne realised she had a long road ahead of her.

-ooo-

The light gradually became brighter, forcing Harry to realise that it was morning. An early morning, as he had woken up several times the previous night due to dreams and it had taken him quite a while to get back to sleep. The dreams were rather odd, as they didn't seem like dreams at all, more like visions or memories or the best pensieve memory ever, but more than anything they were confusing. He saw Hereweald in one of the dreams, and a woman who seemed like she was in charge of everything in another, but it all seemed like it happened a very, very long time ago, mostly based on the clothes and the way people talked.

He sat up, reached over and put on his glasses, the world finally swimming into focus, hoping that today was finally the day it was all over. The goblin Healer, Plurkert, was one of the only constants. Well, Plurkert and the his house elves. Right after the crazy thing with Hereweald and the book and Tonks, not to mention the ritual with the crazy goblin shaman, the thing that he required above all was rest. Initially he wasn't very happy with this, and rebelled slightly, getting out of bed to go find a book, but exhaustion had overtaken him and he had apparently passed out in his boxers and a t-shirt on the hallway floor. After that he'd listened to the Healer, eating when possible, but mostly just sleeping.

This morning, though, something was a bit different. His head felt clear, not as foggy. His chest didn't feel so tight, his arms and legs didn't feel sluggish. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed didn't tire him out, he felt...normal. No, scratch that. Not normal. Better than he'd felt in ages.

Kipsey popped into the bedroom, a breakfast tray levitating in front of her, and as soon as she saw Harry sitting up she squeaked. "Master Harry needs to be in bed, he does!"

"No, no Kipsey, please!" He held up his hands. "I feel fine, really. Call the Healer if you would, I'd like to find out what's going on."

After hurriedly levitating the breakfast tray over to the small desk with a clang and a slight spill of pumpkin juice the little elf popped away, giving Harry a moment to look around and find a thin, cotton dressing gown. He put it on, walked over to the little table and sat down. Initially he was going to try and siphon the pumpkin juice that had spilled, since he could actually do magic now, but for some reason he couldn't find his wand.

The door opened and the gruff old goblin Healer walked in, followed closely by his house elves and Effie.

"I didn't realise I needed my Gringotts account manager for this." He smiled at her and received a nice smile, sans-teeth, from Effie. "Hey!" He turned to the Healer as Plurkert had lifted up his arm and had begun shaking it. "Do you have to do that?"

The goblin ignored him and continued his examination, making Harry stick out his tongue, jump up and down three times and cough. Finally Plurkert waved his hands at Harry, causing a fine gold mist to form around his head and then travel down to his feet, disappearing with a pop.

"He's recovered, Account Manager." Plunkert ignored Harry, nodded at Effie and then walked out of the room without another word.

The lack of further explanation made the anger rise up into Harry. "Can somebody tell me what the bloody hell happened to me? And where's my wand?"

Effie gave him a calming smile. "Lord Potter, if you would like to have some breakfast I can answer your questions, as far as I know the answers."

"Fine." Harry went over to the table and pulled a scone out of a tray and began to butter it. "Can we start with what happened to me in the library?"

"Ah." The goblin gave him a sad expression. "I am afraid that we do not fully understand the Library Incident. Lady Black, while unaffected as you were, is unable to talk about the matter. We tried all means possible, but she does not recall anything. There is the small griffon tattoo on her wrist, but as that is the figure from the Potter crest, we can only guess that it was given to her during the incident." She paused. "What can you tell us, my Lord?"

Harry opened his mouth to tell her everything, to tell her old Hereweald showed up and did something with fire and a griffon flew into him, but nothing came out. He physically attempted to say words, but it was impossible. Finally he gave up. "Damn. Me, too."

"Maybe you can talk to Lady Black, as she was with you. We didn't think anything unusual had happened, just that you were with your betrothed, but when Kipsey went to inquire if you wished for refreshment she found both you and Lady Black unconscious and raised the alarm. Lady Black recovered after a few moments but you remained unconscious, so we put you in the master bedroom and called the Healer and the Shaman back to examine you."

"Well? What was it?"

Effie shrugged. "We still do not know. The prevailing consensus is that it was the combined effect of living with the horcrux, that it was leeching off of your magic, and the sudden absence made your magic surge to fill the void. As if a dam had suddenly burst, magic filled you and your body was not quite ready for such a concentrated amount of magic, so your body shut down to protect you." Effie reached into her pocket and pulled out Harry's wand, setting it down beside his pumpkin juice. "Your wand, my lord. Perhaps certain spells will be easier now that you don't have that horrible thing draining your magic. But!" She held up a finger in warning. "It would be advisable to not try anything too strenuous for quite some time."

Harry picked up his wand, longing for that familiar warmth but instead it simply felt like a stick. "It doesn't feel right."

"Hmmm..." Effie crossed her legs, letting them dangle off of the too-large chair. "If...a theory. You purchased that wand when you had a horcrux inside of you, a part of..."

"Tom. A part of Tom." Harry made a disgusted face. "I still can't believe that."

"Agreed, it is rather hard to believe. But it was true, and the Harry Potter that chose that wand is not the Lord Potter that sits before me." She raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps a trip to Ollivanders would be in order when we go to buy your school things."

"Oh bugger, Hogwarts!" Harry sat back in his chair. "I forgot about that. I was out for a while, right? When does it..."

"Two days, my lord. Hogwarts term starts in two days."

"Two days!" Harry gave and exasperated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "If I've been out that long then everyone is probably throwing a wobbly."

"Oh yes, there are quite a few letters for you. Headmaster Dumbledore has been quite insistent on speaking to you as soon as possible. There have also been letters from your friends and, unfortunately, other official correspondence. We will deal with all of that once you've had your breakfast." She hopped off the chair and stopped, turning back to him. "It is very good to see you awake and with an appetite. You had many worried about you, my lord. With your permission I will send an owl to Andromeda Tonks. Mrs. Tonks has been rather concerned with your health and has asked to be let into the lodge wards as soon as you woke."

"Uh, sure. I guess."

Harry nodded, still dazed, not noticing as Effie left the room. He was awake, fully awake, and the fact that Hogwarts was starting in two days had turned his attention back to the fact that he was going to have to find some way to make school work. It was bad enough being the Boy Who Lived, having the attention from that damned tournament, now he was Lord Potter, for Merlin's sake! He hoped it wouldn't be as bad as before, now that everybody knew that Voldemort was back, that he hadn't lied, that everyone would cut him some slack. He shook his head. There was no way he could be that lucky.

After eating and a quick shower he looked through the wardrobe, wondering what in Merlin's name he was going to wear. As before none of his clothes were there, no big loss, really, as they were all horrible cast-offs from Dudley, but since nothing in the wardrobe looked like it would fit him he put on the clothes from when Kipsey had helped him out before. He sniffed them before he put them on, noting that at least the house elf had laundered them, laughed at the new pair of soft, outrageously gaudy socks, and had just slid one boot on when he heard a throat being cleared outside his door. He hurriedly put on the other boot and went over to open the door.

"Mrs. Tonks."

"Andromeda, dear, please. How are you feeling? You had us so worried."

"Uh, I feel fine, really. Just like I took a really long kip."

"I would say so." She smiled at him. "Kipsey has prepared tea in the...I believe she called it the lounge. Your correspondence is waiting there as well."

"Better get it over with." He shrugged. "I'll follow you, I have no idea where I'm going."

Harry followed Andromeda through the halls until they entered a very bright, airy room. This room held none of the antlers or trophies like every other room seemed to display, instead the walls were a creamy yellow colour, massive floor to ceiling windows covered one wall, and pale blue chairs nestled around a table near a white stone fireplace. He took a seat across from Andromeda and picked up the bundle of letters that looked as thick as three of the Monster Book of Monsters stacked on top of each other.

"This is going to take forever to get through." He untied the string on the bundle and started looking through the letters. He recognized Hermione's handwriting right away and sat those letters, all ten of them, off to a corner. Dumbledore's handwriting, that little crazy scrawl, was also obvious, but there was only one letter from him. Some things, like the ones with the Gringotts seal he shuffled to the bottom, Effie would probably tell him what was in those letters, those could wait. He turned back to Andromeda. "Sorry. Didn't mean to be rude."

"That's fine, Harry." She took a sip of tea. "Besides checking to see if you are feeling better I'm afraid my visit today isn't purely social."

"Oh?" Harry looked at her, confused. "Uh..."

"The Wizangamot." Andromeda sat her tea down on the table and leaned forward. "In a perfect world you would have been informed about these things by a relative. Oh. My goodness." Andromeda sat back quickly and covered her mouth with her hand. "I am so sorry."

He shrugged slightly. "It's ok. I'm used to it."

"That doesn't mean...I'm sorry." She straightened up and gave him a warm look. "As Nymphadora will be taking her seat soon we've been given a crash course in all of the pomp and procedures. She's not very happy right now as she will have to be presented to the Wizangamot before she takes her seat. As you are still at Hogwarts you are exempt from this process until you finish your seventh year. That doesn't take care of our problem, though."

Harry absentmindedly itched his forearm. "What problem?"

"We've been informed that when she is formally introduced to the Wizangamot to take her seat that all of her titles will be used."

"What's the big deal? She's Lady Black, right? Sirius made her his heir, she's all legal and everything, right?"

"Yeesss..." Andromeda tilted her head. "But we have been informed by our Gringotts representative that they will introduce her as Lady Black, betrothed of Lord Potter."

"Bugger."

Andromeda let out a quick laugh. "I'm afraid she said much worse than that when she found out. Her lady...oh, and that's another thing. Apparently the Potters of old had agreements with a family for their daughters to be ladies in waiting, either to the Lady Potter or future Lady Potters. Ours has made her presence known. I believe you know her, as she is in your year at Hogwarts. You do know Daphne Greengrass, don't you?"

"Right." Harry laughed, then looked at Andromeda and realised she wasn't joking, which only made him laugh harder. "Daphne Greengrass, from Slytherin? That's hilarious. What next? Is Goyle going to be the official gardener of House Potter?"

After a roll of the eyes Andromeda took another sip of tea. "I see you're taking this as seriously as Nymphadora."

For some reason that made Harry suddenly realise that he was talking to his future mother-in-law, that if Voldemort would be coming for him than he would be coming for her as well. He sat back in the chair and hurriedly stared out the window. "Sorry."

The sudden shift from laughter to fear in Harry made Andromeda pull up short. She knew the burden on the poor boy, Voldemort had tried killing him several times. It just wasn't fair, losing his family like that, suffering at the hands of those horrible Muggles, having to endure everything at Hogwarts and now being forced into being Lord Potter and...marrying Nymphadora one day. He should have grown up with his parents, playing Quidditch and doing things that all boys do while growing up, but it simply wasn't his fate. Fate. Fate was playing with them all. Fate could kiss her dimpled arse.

"Harry, Harry, look at me." She gave him a stern look. "We will find a way out of this, we will _not_ let that bastard take over! I was raised a Black, and let me tell you, one does _not_ offend the House of Black and escape the consequences. I may not fully approve of how it was done, but you will marry my daughter and I will not let that noseless piece of shite ruin my only child's wedding by eliminating the groom! She will be Lady Potter if I have anything to say about it."

Harry sat there, gobsmacked. Andromeda was rather scary when she was like that, a faint echo of Bellatrix, actually. Then he thought of something and laughed, causing her to look at him oddly. "No, she won't be Lady Potter. She'll be Lady Potter-Black."

Andromeda's face took on a haughty, regal appearance. "Oh. Very well done. Very well done." She clapped her hands and the motherly, warm Andromeda returned. "Now, about your school supplies? Fancy a trip to Diagon Alley?"


	7. Back to Hogwarts

**Chapter 7: Back to Hogwarts**

Harry sat in the master bedroom at Potter Lodge, his trunk packed neater than ever before thanks to Kipsey, broom shrunken down and placed inside, and wondered if he would survive the train ride to Hogwarts. He'd barely survived the trip to Diagon Alley with Andromeda, who had been...rather intent on making sure that he looked like the perfect illustration of the Head of House Potter. Thankfully Ted had joined them and had made Andromeda see the light; instead of the rather ostentatious and showy things Ted had instead pointed her down a different path, stating that Harry was bound to endure enough attention as it was, being named Lord Potter, that he didn't have to advertise the fact. Instead of the velvet shirts and ties made of shiny acromantuala silk Ted had sent her down a different path, the end result being that Harry was outfitted with normal things but of the highest quality.

There were some things in the trunk that Ted had to relent on, though, mostly the formal robes that Andromeda insisted would possibly be needed at Hogwarts or other situations, but Harry tuned her out at that point. He knew he should be grateful; after all, he didn't have anybody officially in his life except for the house elves, and she did remind him of Molly Weasley in how she mothered him, but the parenting styles were quite different. Apparently growing up in the Ancient and Noble House of Black made someone quite different than growing up as a Prewett.

The thing that kept Harry's nerves off of the train ride, though, rolled around smoothly in his hand; his new wand. Ollivander had been quite confused when he'd entered the shop, as the old wandmaker didn't understand why the wand that had been called to Harry didn't seem to work for him anymore. He'd declared that it was 'extremely curious' and set to finding a new wand with a gleam in his eye that Harry found unnerving. Eventually, though, they found it; eleven inches long, a smooth hawthorn wand with a griffon feather core. Immediately upon touching it Harry felt a swirl of magic unlike before; his old wand had made the magic rise in him, almost like being filled up with air for a brief moment, but the new wand made him feel as if he'd touched magic for the first time, suffusing him with joy. Ollivander had required him to fill out paperwork on why he required a second wand; it didn't happen very often but it did occur from time to time, as evidenced by the official Ministry form. In the REASON FOR NEW WAND spot, after a subtle hint from Ted, Harry wrote 'assumed Head of House status.'

A quick crack brought Harry's attention, as Kipsey had entered the room and began to levitate his trunk. "Master Harry, the Auror to take you the train is being here. Kipsey takes the trunk to the ward line."

Harry stood up and pocketed his wand, adjusted his glasses and took a deep breath. "Great. Thanks, Kipsey." As the elf popped away he headed downstairs, carefully noting everything about the lodge. He wanted to have a memory of the place, just in case something happened, to know that at least at one point in his life this was his house, the house of his family. If he was honest with himself, even after everything that had happened, the whole horcrux business and the book incident, not to mention the whole being incapacitated for weeks, he didn't want to leave. There were still more family secrets there at the lodge, possibly tucked away in a book in the library, maybe another secret room, and it just seemed cruel that he had to leave.

Andromeda and Ted waited for him out on the front garden and, from the looks on their faces, he could tell that they weren't sure about his leaving as well. He thanked them for all their help, shook Ted's hand, and then started the walk through the row of trees to the ward line. Ted had walked him through it earlier, how guests that weren't approved in the official ward book or weren't considered family could only come as far as the front gate. It wasn't much of a gate, not really, nothing massive like the one at Hogwarts, but it was sizable and fitted into the waist-high stone wall that was made of rocks fitted together so tightly no binding factor was required. At the top of the black, iron gate was the Potter griffon, fierce and proud, but that was the only ornamentation on the gate, not even a lock. When he got to the gate he pushed on one side, the dark metal swinging away with only the hint of metallic squeak.

"Lord Potter?"

He looked up to see a man roughly his height but about five times his age dressed in the red robes of the Auror department.

Harry nodded. "That's me."

The man gave him a pitiful excuse for a bow. "Name's Smythe, Ben Smythe. Can you confirm that this is your trunk?"

He glanced over and nodded. "Yeah, that's it."

"Good." The Auror took out his wand, cast a shrinking spell on the trunk and handed the small little box to Harry. "Makes it easier. Got an owl?"

"Yeah, but I sent her off this morning. Not that far to Hogwarts, and I thought she'd enjoy flying. Hates being cooped up on the train."

"Smart lad." The Auror stroked his long, white mustache, which unfortunately reminded Harry of his Uncle Vernon's bushy lip. "Right, take a hold of this, then."

Harry reached out and touched the crumpled crisp packet. "Portkey?"

"Yeah, let me activate it." With a tap of the wand Potter Lodge fell away, shoving them through the portal of the Portkey.

As soon as he could regain his bearings Harry looked around and was surprised, as it wasn't some nondescript alley nears Kings Cross that would take them to the station and then eventually would lead them to Platform 9 ¾, they were on the platform. Parents and students bustled around, trolleys were bumping along with trunks, the steam of the train belching about making great clouds. He turned to the Auror. "We didn't have to go through..."

"Not for you, Ministry made an allowance, _my lord_." The last part came out somewhat sarcastically. "Security measures."

He was starting to get somewhat irritated with the Auror when all of the sudden the Auror's mustache turned pink, only for a moment, and then turned back to the snowy white that matched the almost bald head. "_Tonks_?"

"Wotcher, Harry." The old Auror Tonks gave him a grin. "Not so loud, though, had to do some fast talking to get this assignment."

"I thought you weren't on active duty anymore?"

"I'm not, but Pilkins didn't know that." Tonks' familiar grin looked rather odd on the rather grumpy-looking face of the old Auror. "Just thought I'd see how you're doing. Mum's given me updates, but...how are you?"

He shrugged. "Fine. Oh." He felt a bit grumpy. "Don't know if your mum's too happy with me, she made me go shopping with her and I might have whinged a bit..."

"Heard all about it from Dad. Don't worry, old Dromeda can be a right pain when she gets all 'House of Black' proper." After a moment of deliberation Tonks let her features switch back to her normal figure. "Let's go over there, so we can talk.

It was funny to Harry, watching her morph back into her normal shape, but at least Auror robes were standard so she wasn't left dressed in an old man's clothes. They walked a bit away from the crowd and stood towards the back of the platform. Eventually, though, they stood alone and Harry realised again that even though Tonks was older than he was by a few years she wasn't that much taller.

"Harry..." She turned to him. "I've been thinking. That...thing that was in your head, there's more of them, and we know what they are, we just don't know where they are, right?" Seeing him nod she continued. "And I'm not really an Auror anymore, they won't let me. Now, don't get mad, but I spoke to Dumbledore."

"You what?" He glared at her. "Why'd you do that?"

"Because he's Dumbledore, you know, Albus freaking Dumbledore? I know he tried to pull a bunch of shit at Gringotts when they read Sirius' will, but you have to admit there's nobody like him when it comes to fighting...Tom. You saw what he did at the Ministry, right?"

It didn't make him happy, but Harry did have to admit that she was right. The fight between Voldemort and Dumbledore was like nothing he'd ever seen. "Yeah. Believe me, I saw it. Front row seat."

"Sorry." Tonks sighed. "But we need to find those damned things, and unfortunately I can't think of anyone better to help me find them."

"Wait." Harry stared at her. "What do you mean, help 'you' find them?"

"If I can't be an Auror anymore I'm not just going to sit around and listen to twaddle about how they can't go changing taxes to give the Aurors more funding to fight Death Eaters or blah blah blah. I'm an Auror, for Merlin's sake, and a damned good one if I say so myself. I'm still going to be in the Order, but not really. Meetings aren't my thing, you know. And since you're not stuck with the Dursleys anymore we don't have to make sure you're safe and all, so I'm going to do a little...uh..._thingy_ hunting. Get this, the goblins are going to help. Not bad, eh? Not even on the Wizangamot officially and I've improved relations with Goblin Nation." She noticed his gobsmacked expression. "Hey, Harry, if I'm going to be Lady Black then by Merlin I'm going to be Lady Black, if you get my drift."

"That's for sure." Harry grinned at her. "So how can I help?"

"Ah, yeah, that's where Dumbledore comes in." She shook her head. "You're going to have to get past the bullshit he pulled and work with him. He knows Tom's history, so you two are going to work that angle. Anything you find you send my way and I'll check it out." Tonks paused, bit her lip and then decided to go ahead. "Listen, Harry." Her tone was quite serious. "It's getting bad out there. I don't know if you saw it but three Muggle families were killed last week and the home of a Muggleborn witch was destroyed, killed all of them. She was a second year Ravenclaw, Dark Mark over the house for anyone to see. The sooner we can get rid of him..."

"Right. I get it." Harry nodded and looked away, eyes watching students and their parents say goodbye but not really seeing anything. There was one vital piece of knowledge that Tonks didn't know, that Dumbledore knew, that he knew and more importantly, that Voldemort knew. He debated on whether to tell her about the prophecy but he couldn't. Not now.

"Hey." She put her hand on his shoulder. "There are a lot of good people working on this, you're not alone, you know."

"Thanks."

The whistle of the Hogwarts Express broke the silence. They stood there, Lady Black and Lord Potter, together but not really looking at each other, unsure how to part. Finally, on impulse, Tonks leaned over and kissed Harry on the cheek. "Get going, ya git."

Thankfully for Harry Tonks disappeared before she could see his face; he couldn't see it but knew from the warmth in his cheeks that he had probably blushed slightly. The train whistle blew again and he made a rush through parents and smaller children, too young to attend Hogwarts and obviously there to see off an older sibling, past them and onto the train just before it started to move. He quickly started walking through the cars, hoping that he wouldn't run into Malfoy or any of the other idiots that usually gave him a hard time. Most of the compartments were full but finally he came to a car where he saw Neville walk into a compartment and shut the door. Ignoring all else he made his way over there and opened the door.

"Harry!"

He had barely made it in the compartment when he was met by Hermione's crushing hug.

"Hermione...can't...breathe..."

"Oh, sorry!" She pulled back. "We've been so worried!"

Ron leaned over from his seat. "Give him some air, Hermione." He picked up his Quidditch magazine and stuck it underneath his Hogwarts robe, which was currently being used as a cushion. "Good to see ya, mate."

"You too." Harry nodded. "Hey Neville."

"Hi, Harry." Neville nodded from the seat by the window. "Congratulations on being Lord Potter."

"Thanks." Harry winced slightly and sat down across from Neville, Hermione quickly filling the seat next to Neville, bumping him slightly into the window. "I suppose we should get it all out of the way, huh?"

Neville squinted. "Sorry, Harry."

"It's ok." Harry turned to Hermione. "I got your letters, yours too, Ron, but I couldn't answer them. I was..." He tried to remember what Andromeda had given him as an excuse and finally gave up and improvised after what seemed for him to be an enormous pause. "...doing family things, didn't get them until a couple of days ago. Sorry if you were worried."

"Well..." Hermione gave him a sympathetic look. "I understand. But sometime I want you to tell me all about it, it's fascinating, how the Ancient and Noble Houses function, I read..."

"Merlin's pants." Ron rolled his eyes and bumped Hermione with his shoulder. "You read the book, give it to him later or something. Come on, don't we have Prefect duty or can we just skip it and say we..."

Hermione's sharp intake of breath let everyone know that she actually had forgotten about her duties as a prefect. "Ron! You're right, come on!"

As she pulled Ron out of his seat he looked back at Harry and Neville with an expression that his roommates recognised, the face that said 'I should have kept my big mouth shut' that usually led to Ron getting hexed or punched by Seamus. Once the prefects had left and the door shut Harry leaned back in his seat, took off his glasses for a moment and laughed along with Neville.

"Sorry about the Lord Potter thing, Harry." Neville shrugged. "I forgot. Gran said to not make a big deal out of it even though it is a big deal. Good thing Ron's dad had a talk with him and Hermione, though."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Oh." Neville absentmindedly picked at the cuff of his shirt. "After you left to go to...I'm guessing you went to one of the Potter houses, right?" Seeing Harry's affirmative nod Neville continued. "After you went there, from what Ron wrote, Hermione had a million questions. Mr. Weasley sat them down and gave them a history lesson, I guess. Hermione had a bunch of questions, some he couldn't answer, so they went and got a book on the stuff." He was quiet for a bit. "Gran said that we're an Ancient and Noble House too, you know. I always heard that stuff but never really paid attention. I guess I'll be Lord Longbottom one day."

Harry saw how his friend was obviously struggling with something until he realised, with a start, that the only way Neville would be Lord Longbottom was when his father passed away, his father that was in St. Mungo's. "Don't worry about it, Nev."

The door of the compartment opened, shocking both boys, but the person who opened the door surprised them even further. There, with her blonde hair down loose around her shoulders, was Daphne Greengrass. She glanced at Harry only for a second and then turned her attention to Neville. "Longbottom, I need to speak to Potter privately."

Neville nodded. "Uh, ok."

As Neville got up and left before Harry could even protest Daphne took advantage of the situation and sat down across from Harry. "I suppose you're wondering why I'm here."

"Yeah. I am."

Daphne closed her eyes and nodded in his direction. "The House of Greengrass congratulates you on your assumption as Potter of House Potter and accepts the duties required."

"What?"

Daphne looked up and gave him an look of irritation. She pulled a letter out of her Slytherin robe and held it out it to him. "I know, I know, horribly stuffy, Mum made me practise it over and over. It's all in the letter." When Harry went to take the letter she smacked him slightly on the head with it. "Not now, later. Merlin, you've got a lot to learn." Without another word she stood up and exited the compartment.

As Harry sat there, confused, Neville came back in. "What was that all about? Why did Daphne Greengrass want to talk to you?"

Harry quickly stuffed the letter into his jeans, crumpling it horribly. "Dunno, something about being Lord Potter. Gave me a letter, probably from her dad."

Neville chuckled. "Get used to it. Maybe he wants you to vote on something in the Wizangamot."

"Don't remind me." Harry sat back and rested his head against the glass of the window, watching the countryside slide by. If the train ride was any indication he was in for a very mental year at Hogwarts.

-ooo-

In a very dark room of a rather nondescript house the black robe of Lord Voldemort trailed in the dust as he paced. Harry Potter being named Lord Potter made it harder for him to kill the little brat, as soon he would take his place amongst the Wizangamot. It was difficult enough as the boy was at Hogwarts, now he would also be at the Ministry when the Wizangamot was in session, with all the protections that Dumbledore could muster. The old fool would certainly increase the wards around the Wizangamot chamber when the boy took his role, and if the Boy Who Lived sat in session the sheep would follow his direction. Oh, they would say that they were only listening to him, but the Prophet was an indication on how the wind was blowing.

The attacks on Muggles and Muggleborns seeded fear, but there was more, more that could be done. He must stop Harry Potter from taking that Wizangamot seat. The Wizangamot ruled the Ministry, the Ministry ruled the sheep, and Lord Voldemort must rule them all. If that boy thought he could be called Lord Potter he would show them what the true power of a Dark Lord could be.

"Bellatrix." Voldemort ceased his pacing and turned, his robed Death Eaters standing in the shadows. "Bellatrix, my dear. I believe it is time we paid a visit to the Wizangamot." He saw her expression and held up a hand. "Ah, ah, ah, not yet, not yet. Soon. I have a task for you. Find out as much information about the next Wizangamot session as you can. I believe Amelia Bones is quite knowledgeable about these things. Perhaps you can persuade her to give you some information."

-ooo-

For Harry the walk into Hogwarts was similar to other years; he was gawked at and wherever he went people pointed and muttered. Malfoy, for some reason, was nowhere to be seen. That was the only good thing that he could think of so far in his return. Hermione and Ron had met him and Neville, somewhere along the line they had also run into Ginny Weasley and Collin Creevey, so at least he had some buffer from the students trying to get too close. When they sat at the Gryffindor table before the Sorting Seamus and Dean had given him a mock bow before cracking up laughing. Lavender Brown, though, was eyeing him up like a Christmas present so he avoided her like the plague.

He was lost in his thoughts for the Sorting and, to be honest, most of the feast. Ron did ask him about the Cannons once, offhandedly, and he lied and said that his account manager was looking into it. Hermione was bending Neville's ear about classes, so he ate quietly, still thinking about Tonks and her mission. He also thought back about the quick kiss on the cheek she'd given him, and that made him smile a little bit.

Then, halfway through a bite of treacle tart, Dumbledore stood to give the beginning of the year speech. A rather large man with a walrus mustache named Slughorn was introduced as the Potions professor, Snape of all people was named as the Defense professor, and that drew several audible groans from every table except the Slytherin table. Dumbledore announced that, after many years and many attempts, Professor Binns was finally convinced to retire. All the tables were unanimous in their approval of that fact, with the notable exception of certain students who liked to sleep in History of Magic. While applauding Binns' retirement Harry saw someone stand up at the very end of the table, someone he recognised, and as Dumbledore introduced the new History professor Harry felt that it was going to be a better year. Having Ted Tonks as a History of Magic professor was going to be _brilliant_.

Once the usual 'don't go into the Forbidden Forest' bit was done the feast was over, the time Harry was dreading. His friends hadn't been too bad with his being named Lord Potter, but the looks from the rest of the table made him think going through the Gryffindor common room was going to be like going through a gauntlet. It was while he was wondering how to manage when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Mr. Potter." Minerva McGonagall stood next to him, her face in its usual semi-stern expression. "Headmaster Dumbledore would like to speak to you. If you will follow me."

Harry shrugged at his friends' look of surprise and followed McGonagall through the hallways, finally ending up at the Headmaster's office. She told the gargoyles the password and then he steadily went behind her, unsure of how he felt about being back in Dumbledore's office. After all, the man had tried to keep him from his inheritance; if Dumbledore had his way at the reading of Sirius' will he would have never known about Potter Lodge or...anything, really. But then he thought of Tonks, what she said about him and finally decided that if Tonks, of all people, could give him another chance that he would, if only to get rid of Voldemort.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk and smiled over his half-moon glasses. "Ah, Lord Potter. Lemon drop?"

"Uh, no, thank you." Harry sat down and noticed out of the corner of his eye that McGonagall was standing slightly out of the way. He turned back to Dumbledore. "You wanted to see me?"

"Ah, yes." Albus nodded. "Before we go any further, Lord Potter, I must apologise. I was afraid that if you took the role of Lord Potter that it would escalate Voldemort's efforts. Lady Black informed me of a few things, and we will discuss that at a later time, but tonight I wanted to tell you that I am sorry and to beg forgiveness of an old man. I was trying to protect you, but as others have told me, I may not have done so in the best manner."

Harry heard McGonagall make a noise of irritation and chanced a quick glance at her. It was the same look on her face that students got when they were being deliberately thick in Transfiguration, and part of him wished he could have heard the conversation between McGonagall and Dumbledore. He turned back to his Headmaster. "Thanks, sir."

"Now." Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "As Lord of an Ancient and Noble house Hogwarts has prepared a room for you. I gather you have been wondering how your being named Lord Potter would play out amongst your housemates? I did notice a few of your fellow Gryffindors pay you extra attention tonight at the feast."

He nodded. "Yeah, I wasn't too sure what would happen."

McGonagall cleared her throat, focusing the attention in the room. "Mr. Potter, although the Headmaster has addressed you as Lord Potter the staff has been instructed not to use your title. I will be informing your Gryffindor housemates that you are not to be bothered about your Head of House status. If anyone in any of the houses is being particularly troublesome I want you to inform me immediately. Now, as the Headmaster has indicated, Hogwarts has prepared a room for you. We have not been able to enter it, which has irritated Mr. Filch, but according to records it should be similar to the Head Boy's room. Remember, just because you are Head of House does not mean you can ignore your classes. I have taken the liberty of drawing up a modified class schedule for you, inform me in the morning if you wish to make any changes. Now, if you will follow me I will take you there so you can get some sleep."

As Harry got up out of the chair and glanced at Dumbledore the Headmaster spoke. "Lord Potter...Harry, I have asked Professor McGonagall to allow some time in your schedule for a special project that the two of us will work on this year. I look forward to our first session. Good night."

Harry nodded and followed McGonagall out of the room. She walked at a brisk pace, and somehow he wasn't sure but he thought that she seemed sort of excited. They were almost at the portrait of the Fat Lady in front of the Gryffindor common room when she turned and went directly across the hall, stopping in front of a massive portrait.

The woman in the portrait was in her early adulthood, dark hair streaming down her back. She wore dark armour, possibly dragonhide, and sat mounted on a griffon, her booted feet planted firmly in the stirrups, a wand in one hand and a spear in the other hand. She was placed in the middle of a bright landscape with trees filling in the back of the portrait, but it was all Harry could do to not look directly at her, as she was smiling at him widely.

McGonagall pointed to the small plate below the portrait on the frame. "Her name is Magdalene. I believe you know who she is?"

Harry nodded quickly and looked up at her. "Hello Magdalene."

The lady within the portrait reared the griffon and smiled at him. "Hello, young Harry James Potter, Lord Potter of House Potter! Welcome to your lodgings."

Harry looked over to McGonagall. "Um, is there a password?"

Magdalene laughed. "We do not need passwords, my son. Show me the ring."

"Oh, ok." Harry lifted up his hand and a red light shimmered around the portrait frame, a few moments later the portrait moved aside revealing an entrance just like the Gryffindor common room.

"Fascinating!" McGonagall smiled and then quickly composed herself. "Remember, Mr. Potter, review your schedule. Good night."

After she left Harry took a tentative step through the entranceway into his new room and laughed. It wasn't like the Head Boy's room, from what he'd been told that room looked like, instead it was an exact, down to the furniture and duvet cover replica of the master bedroom at Potter Lodge, with the exception being his Hogwarts trunk at the foot of the bed. He went over to the bed and flopped down on it, exhausted. After taking off his glasses he went to put them on the night stand and saw the schedule of classes from McGonagall which triggered something in his memory, something that he'd forgotten.

Not remembering what it was he got undressed, put on his pajamas and crawled in bed. He was almost asleep when he remembered that Daphne Greengrass had given him a letter. A quick lumos spell later he fished it out of his jeans and sat in bed reading.

"Bloody hell!" He looked around to apologise for the noise but remembered that he didn't have any roommates. That was going to take a bit to get used to. He picked the letter up again and shook his head. _Daphne Greengrass, a lady in waiting for Tonks?_ Hilarious.

_**A/N: Thanks to everybody reading along. As usual I'm not going through a beta so if you run into a few things please don't worry. Hopefully I've cleaned things up enough as I've been writing.**_

_**I'm not much of a 'Harry at Hogwarts' writer, so don't expect to be here at school for too long. I'm usually not this fast of a writer, so don't expect the quick updates all the time. I've just been lucky lately.**_

_**And THANK YOU for all the reviews. I may be absolutely horrible at responding to reviews but rest assured I read each and every one. Thanks again.**_


	8. The Day of the Dark King

**Chapter 8: The Day of the Dark King**

_Before dawn, unknown location_

Lord Voldemort stood with his back to the Death Eaters and their unconscious captive, awaiting the first rays of the sun. Today would be the day, the day when all knew of his rightful place in the world. That Potter brat considered himself Lord Potter, and that mongrel thing considered herself Lady Black? He would show them, he would show them all the power, the power not of a Dark Lord; no, he would show them the power of a Dark King. He watched as the first, feint glimmers of light began to streak the sky. The darkness was his normal haunt, but not today. No, today the burning embers of the sky would ignite the world, beginning his reign and dominion over all.

He turned quickly, catching some of the Death Eaters by surprise, but those who he trusted most stood steadfast, grim smiles of determination and anticipation on their faces. They were ready, spoiling for action, some since their removal from Azkaban were especially eager. They had been worthy of the trust he had put in them, they and the others that had successfully infiltrated the Ministry. They had given him the slivers of information that he had pieced together, his planning would not have been possible without them, and, he smiled, without the miserable thing that lay bound and bloody at the stone.

The Dark Lord walked forward, watching as the sun began its inexorable creep towards the sky, how the shadows began playing through the ancient standing stones. It was proper to be crowned king at a place like this, an old place, reeking with magic from the beginnings of time, proper for the Dark King to begin his war. He laughed, as it was proper for his crown to be made of such material.

The man, boy really, who lay bound and bloody on the stone had been a wealth of information, details like he could not have imagined in his wildest dreams came from the boy's brain, and what torture did not reveal repeated Legilimens attacks did without fail. Without the boy none of it would have been possible, but now, now it was all there, within his grasp. Smiling, Voldemort took out his wand and held it delicately, like a conductor with a baton, and began work.

He started with the hands, removing them just below the wrist. The sudden pain made the boy come awake with screams, lovely, delicious screams. With another spell the skin began to fly from the now floating hands, splotches of pink muscle and tendons flying off to the wind, food for crows, as the bones gleamed white and wet against the growing sun. With a laugh he once again twirled his wand, sending the hands spinning in the air, fingers stretching out as far as possible, joined only by magic, until the tips of the thumbs and the tips of the small fingers joined together, other fingers standing upright, making a crown. A crown of bones.

Walking forward, moving the sleeves of his black robe backward to reveal unnaturally pale and slender fingers, he reached into the air and took the crown. With the mocking reverence of ancient kings he lifted the crown high, towards the sun and then sat it on his head. Turning back to his Death Eaters he saw them kneeling, bowing towards him. "Arise, my friends. Your king commands it."

The Death Eaters rose, the screams of the boy more frantic until someone kicked him violently in the head, reducing the sound to sobbing gasps.

Voldemort surveyed his Death Eaters. Some would not return from the day's efforts but it could not be avoided. He had recruited heavily for just this reason, as today, today would decide all. All in his favour. "You have your tasks, you have the times. Do not fail me, or risk the displeasure of your Dark King. Kill the boy; we will return here when all is done."

With a turn Voldemort was gone. Two Death Eaters looked at each other and with a shrug the youngest one took out his wand and cast the green killing spell on the boy, still struggling, handless, on the stone. That completed, the Death Eaters Apparated away, leaving the bloody, handless corpse of Percy Weasley staring with unseeing eyes into the brilliant dawn.

_7:00 am Catford neighbourhood_

The Death Eater placed a small, metal object in front of the door of the house and stood back. After casting a spell on the object it shot out blue light towards the door, covering it until the light crackled and dissipated. Taking that as the sign the Death Eater and his companion cast a _Bombarda_ spell, destroying the door, and rushed into the house, wands held high. A quick Hominum Revelio spell gave them the bad news; the house was unoccupied.

"He won't like this." The male voice behind the Death Eater mask turned to his companion. "What now?"

"We join the others." The older, lower male voice was full of conviction. "Doesn't matter, that Bones bitch will get hers. Now, later today, tomorrow, doesn't matter. Come on, we'll join the others."

_8:00 am Ministry of Magic_

The men arrived via Floo with the other Ministry workers, quickly noted the others and went on their way, avoiding each other, blending into the normal rush and flow of the multitudes reporting for work in the Ministry. One man, his dark hair pulled tightly into a ponytail, pulled out something from his pocket. To anyone who would glance over and see him they would think nothing of it, simply a man looking at his pocket watch. It was more than that, though, much, much more than that. The red glow at each number on the watch told him that the charges were set, the cauldrons were full, temperature just right to achieve effectiveness but still stay invisible. He walked through the crowds and made it to the witch sitting at the small desk outside a rather ostentatious door.

He cleared his throat. "Is it too early to get a good seat?"

The witch looked at the clock and then back at the man. "You here for the Wizangamot swearing in ceremony? You're about two hours early, mate."

"I know, but Harry Potter's coming today." He feigned excitement. "Wonderful, ain't it, him being Lord Potter and all. Don't want to miss it."

"Yeah, it is rather wonderful, and a new Lady Black. That's a first, a Lady Black." The witch seemed to hesitate for a moment and then shrugged. "Can't hurt anything, getting in a wee bit early. Go on, just remember, no pictures, don't try to talk to anyone in the ceremony because the protective wards will be up and no eating or drinking. Maintenance is really picky about that. For Merlin's sake we can't make a mess in the Wizangamot chamber."

_9:30 am Hampstead_

Two figures Apparated into a small alley, quickly stowed their robes and masks and walked out into the bright sunshine, a woman arm-in-arm with a man. They walked a bit, stopping occasionally to reorient themselves, and finally the woman started walking purposely towards a rather nondescript block of flat buildings. Cars were parked outside in a small lot, a woman put a small child in the back seat of one of the vehicles but paid no attention to the people walking up to the door. The man let go of the woman's arm and opened the door, leaving her to walk boldly inside.

The girl at the counter in her bright blue scrubs looked across the counter, through the little window at the woman that stood before her. "Hello, do you have an appointment?"

The woman leaned forward, resting an arm on the counter, her wild dark hair flowing over her shoulders. "Is Dr. Granger in?"

The girl tapped her pen on the top of the computer monitor. "Which one? I think they're both..."

That was enough for Bellatrix. With a gleam in her eye she pulled out her wand and a flash of green light hit the young woman in the face, causing her to slump over, knocking the tea off the desk.

The people inside the waiting room began to scream but it was to no avail. The man had his wand out, firing at will. Women, children, an elderly man reading the Guardian, all of them met the same fate. Bellatrix walked through the rooms with glee, stopping occasionally to end someone's life while sitting on an odd chair with things hanging about their heads, but it was it was all just Muggle nonsense to get in the way.

Hearing the commotion a man hurtled around the corner, odd gloves on his hands, wearing the same bright blue clothes as the first woman behind the counter. "What in God's name..."

It was the last thing he said. The last thing Dr. Ernest Granger ever saw was a madwoman in black clothes with wild black hair pointing a wand at him. He knew what a wand was; after all, his daughter Hermione had one. He knew that woman pointing the wand at him was a witch. And in the last second before his life left him he knew that Hermione was right; there was a war going on in the wizarding world, a war that had come to his doorstep. The next-to-last thought gave him some small comfort, comfort that his wife Gemma would be in late that day. His last thought was of her and Hermione as the spell arced out towards him, green.

_9:30 am Hogsmeade_

Fred Weasley was rather proud of their little Hogsmeade shop. It wasn't as grand as the Diagon Alley shop, not at all, but thanks to the very reasonable rates on the loan from Gringotts, and an unnamed investor, he and George had been able to buy the former Zonko's and begin to bring it up to snuff. By the time of the first Hogsmeade weekend, though, it should be ready for the Hogwarts students.

He was in the back, in the storeroom, when he heard the ward begin to shriek, a ward that the goblins at Gringotts had insisted upon as a condition of their loan. A ward that Fred hoped he would never hear go off, as it was a ward that was only triggered by someone carrying the Dark Mark.

"Verity!" Fred dropped the box on the floor, it's contents sizzling, steaming and forgotten instantly. "Verity! The Dark Mark Ward! Start the defenses!"

The blonde witch,who if Fred was honest they'd hired mostly because of her bust size, the blonde witch ran towards the front counter. She jumped over head-first and landed in a heap, but quickly got up and pulled a lever by the cash register. Instantly the windows were covered with a stone-like material, the door was covered with chains that locked into place with a metallic clang, followed shortly by a soft blue glow, while on top of the roof a bright red light began flashing, immediately followed by a siren loud enough to be heard miles away.

The Death Eater outside the shop turned to his companion. "Now what?"

"What do you think? Oh...that's right, you don't think." The second Death Eater drawled, his voice dripping with condescension. "Improvise. If this target will not work..." he glanced around the street, stopping at one building. "...there are always...others."

The other Death Eater followed Snape's glance and smiled. Dervish and Banges. He never liked that place, and thought to himself that it would look lovely on fire, with corpses strewn about, the Dark Mark hanging high even in the bright sunshine, for all to see.

_9:50 am Ministry of Magic_

Harry stood nervously in the little anteroom off of the main chamber of the Wizangamot. It was bad enough that he was going to go through the whole 'take your place on the Wizangamot' ceremony, that it had to be announced so there would be tons of people, that wasn't going to be fun at all, but everything would come out today. They hadn't found a way around it, Tonks taking her place without her being named his 'betrothed.' Effie had looked into it for him, discreetly contacting some of the Wizangamot through unofficial channels, but there was no way around it. Tonks had to take her place today, the Hogwarts exemption wouldn't work for her, and if Tonks had to be there and be named his 'betrothed' then it didn't make any sense for him to be at Hogwarts so he had agreed to be sworn in as well. Thankfully he was able to get out of Hogwarts without much fuss; he could practically hear Snape's cutting remarks about him taking his place on the Wizangamot, but luckily he'd talked McGonagall into not saying anything except to the other professors that he had to leave on 'family business.'

He was able to get his friends out for the day, though, and that made him happy. Ron wasn't too pleased that he had to go home first, but Molly had insisted. Apparently it would be the first time that he would attend the Wizangamot since Arthur's seat had been restored as Lord Weasley, and Molly wanted to make sure that all of her children that could attend would be present and looked the part. Harry had teased Ron that he might get to wear the formal robes from the Yule Ball, but that hadn't helped. Hermione would be coming with them, Ginny too, so Harry thought he'd at least have someone to focus on while they did whatever the hell it was that they did when making someone part of the Wizangamot.

He paused, looking through some old magazines that someone had left in the anteroom, but then turned back to Tonks. She was sitting on a chair next to her parents, and if he was honest he thought she looked miserable. Miserable but...pretty. Once the decision had been made for Harry to attend the ceremony with Tonks it suddenly became real in his mind, the fact that he and Tonks were going to get married someday, and that led to thoughts of what happened when two people were married. It was always sometime off in the future for him, perhaps to never happen, but one night while lying in bed unable to sleep he thought about it and...for once he couldn't believe his luck. She was...well, she was Tonks, for Merlin's sake! She was an Auror, not only that but a damned good one, too. She was funny, fun to be around and...sexy. He couldn't help it; he was sixteen and she was in her twenties, so much cooler. There was no way she would have ever thought about him that way if it wasn't for the contract...

"Harry?"

He turned to see Ted Tonks standing in front of him and quickly shook his head to get certain images out of his mind. That wouldn't do, not in front of her father. "Uh, um, yeah?"

"We're about ready, son." Ted stepped closer and straightened his robe. "Looks good on you, you look like a proper Lord Potter."

Harry glanced down and saw the dark gray robe with the Potter griffon crest on the right chest. "I guess."

"No, you do, you do." Ted took a deep breath. "I know we haven't really talked about it, but we all know it's going to come out today. I might have picked someone a wee bit older for her, but I know you'll treat her right. Am I right?"

"What? Oh! Yeah, yeah, of course." Harry nodded quickly. "Of course."

"Right." He saw Harry's panicked look and assumed something completely different. His voice was low and serious. "My boy, we know what they are, the goblins are working with us. We'll get them, don't worry."

Suddenly Harry realised what Ted was talking about and his thoughts of Tonks wearing something other than the House Black robe disappeared immediately. _Why bother thinking about Tonks like that? I'll probably be dead before I'm even old enough that she'd even consider that._

A sharp knock at the door brought everyone's attention. Before anyone could answer the door swung open to reveal two Aurors in red robes along with Madame Bones, monocle in firmly in place, her face dark.

"Sorry for the intrusion." She stepped forward and looked to Harry, then to Tonks and her family. "We've received reports of Death Eater activity this morning. Head Auror Scrimgeour is personally attending the investigation." She took a deep breath. "Besides Hogsmeade they have attacked several Muggle areas, that's all the information I have at this time. For your safety today I've authorised two Aurors to be your protective detail. They will follow you into the main chamber of the Wizangamot and will remain with you until you are returned to your home and to Hogwarts. Lady Black, Lord Potter, do you understand?"

"Where?" Tonks came up quickly to Madame Bones. "Where in Hogsmeade?"

"They attempted to attack the new Weasley shop..."

Harry felt his heart jump into his throat.

"...but," Madame Bones continued. "They enacted protections that prevented the Death Eaters from destroying the shop. Since they could not destroy that shop they attacked Dervish and Banges as well as the Hog's Head." She saw their expectant faces and solemnly shook her head. "Both are total losses. Total."

_9:58 am outside of the Ministry for Magic_

A red-haired woman hurried along the street, a tall red-haired boy and a bushy-haired girl alongside her. "Come on, we're late!"

A smaller, red-haired girl hurried up to her side. "Sorry, Mum."

"Thanks, Gin." Ron turned to his sister. "Took you long enough to figure out what to wear and now we're late."

Hermione stopped walking and put her hand into her jeans, pulling out a mobile phone. "Sorry, it's Mum." She turned on the phone and her face fell. "Mum! What's wrong? What happened?"

The Weasley's watched as her face melted into tears and the hand holding the phone fell away, dangling loosely by her side, the sound of her mum's crying filling the air. Molly and Ginny went quickly to her side, ignoring the people walking past them on the pavement, but Ron stood motionless, unsure of exactly what to do.

The sides of the Ministry of Magic building, hidden to Muggles for years, began to bulge, bricks popping off and then it exploded into a massive ball of flame, throwing passing Muggles into cars, into the street, setting cars on fire. Screams went up immediately, people were running away from the suddenly raging fire, and Ron found himself across the street somewhat in a hedge. His ears ringing he tried to stand and found his foot wouldn't quite work properly; he couldn't put his full weight on it for very long and it burned even though it wasn't on fire.

"RON!"

He whipped his head around and saw his Mum holding Ginny, who didn't seem to be able to stand on her own. Hermione was there, wand out, her face full of anger, and he turned to see that her wand was pointed at four advancing Death Eaters, silver masks almost blinding in the sunlight.

Three pops jerked Ron's attention from the Death Eaters and he saw the red robes of the Aurors. Two Aurors immediately began engaging the Death Eaters, spells flying faster than he could imagine ever casting, and watched in horror as one of the Aurors held out a length of rope, draped it around his mum, sister and Hermione and then popped away.

A scream from nearby brought him out of his inactivity, a scream of a woman. He turned and saw a Death Eater pointing a wand towards the window of a Muggle car where a young woman covered her head behind the driver's wheel, something moving in the back seat. A baby. It was at that moment that something snapped into place for Ron Weasley. He'd seen the Ministry, the bloody Ministry of Magic blow up, Death Eaters attack, something horrible had happened to Hermione and his family and Hermione had been portkeyed away by an Auror. Later, he wouldn't be able to explain why he'd done what he had done, he would always say that he just reacted.

And he reacted. He took out his wand, thrust it towards the Death Eater and with a surge of magic yelled _BOMBARDA!_ The spell hit the Death Eater in the midsection, almost separating the man at the waist, throwing the black robed bastard away from the car and into a Muggle lamp post. Ignoring the Death Eater he ran over to the car, opened the passenger side and hurriedly got in.

"Drive!"

"Who are you? What's happening?" The girl looked at him in terror.

"I'm one of the good guys, can you drive this thing? Get us the hell out of here!"

So much had happened in the last few moments that the girl latched on to what she knew, and she knew how to drive. She needed to get her and her daughter away from the terrorist attack. Throwing the car in gear she stepped on the gas pedal, hard. The tires of the little white hatchback spun for a second, then gained traction and shot the vehicle into gear fast enough that Ron had to reach out and grab onto anything to keep from hitting his head on the window.

As the sirens began to wail closer to the Ministry of Magic the white hatchback sped off through the streets, baby crying in the backseat, the vehicle dodging debris, cars and people, destination anywhere but back there.

_10:00 am Wizangamot Chamber, Ministry of Magic_

Harry walked into the Wizangamot Chamber, two steps behind Tonks, along with her parents. He looked up at what had to be the full Wizangamot, as hardly any seats were empty. Dumbledore stood in the center, behind a podium, in what he figured was the Head Warlock's position. After Tonks had taken a few steps more and stood still Harry looked up to see Hermione and the Weasleys but, even after looking around at all the seats that were filled with people there to watch the ceremony, he couldn't see them. His heart sank a little bit, as he knew that he'd have to tell them later. Part of him felt bad for not telling Ron and Hermione about the marriage contract, and now they'd find out from the papers, and even though he could explain it away he'd know that it would hurt their feelings that he hadn't told them beforehand.

As Harry hoped that he'd simply missed them in the crowd he began to look for them, not really listening as Dumbledore began speaking, and that's when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was right below Dumbledore's podium, shimmering as if it was disillusioned, but that couldn't be possible, not from what he'd been told about the Wizangamot chamber. Nothing could be hidden in there. But there _was_ something there, and as it began to lose the effects of what must have been a disillusionment spell or similar he saw that it was a cauldron. A cauldron that reminded him of Seamus' cauldrons from Potions class, a cauldron that was right on the edge of explosion. He frantically looked over to see if there was a way he could tell the Auror on protective duty and saw that there were more of the cauldrons, they were all around the room!

"Tonks!" Harry yelled and reacted, taking out his wand. _"Accio Tonks!"_

Tonks flew threw the air, colliding against Harry with enough force that the two of them hit together in a tangle of limbs, going down in a heap. It was at that moment that the cauldrons exceeded their limit and exploded.

The cauldron beneath the Head Warlock's podium must have been packed with extra portions of whatever potion were used because the fireball mushroomed into a white globe and enveloped not only the Head Warlock's position but also the next two Wizangamot seats on either side. While less intense the other cauldrons fulfilled their mission, exploding into the crowd, the wards failing immediately as they were never designed for an attack such as this. Flames were everywhere, growing and growing due to the rapid influx of air that came from the gaping hole staring out at the Muggle world. Screams and blood and body parts filled the chamber, witches and wizards panicked, pushing to get out of the way, trying to force the doors open on the upper levels but they were blown back by yet more explosions, this time from the wands of black-robed Death Eaters, silver masks mirroring the rippling flames.

Harry felt his breath drop away as he looked through fire, waiting for the searing pain on his skin, but the pain never came. Instead, he lifted himself slightly up off of Tonks and when he did he realised that his arm was covered with fire, a fire that didn't hurt. He turned back to Tonks, seeing one leg under her torso, and saw her look back at him in shock, the same fire that covered his arm covering her body. He turned to where Ted and Andromeda had been, along with the Auror, but he couldn't see them. Spellfire rang out through the chamber along with screams, Aurors shouting instructions as part of the ceiling of the chamber fell into the room with a sickening thud as it landed on the corpses below.

Anger surged through Harry, an anger that felt as if it would make him able to use an unforgivable spell and not even blink. A Death Eater appeared a few meters away, pointing a wand at someone else and Harry let his anger out, but the words that came out of his mouth were ones that he'd never known before.

"_Sanctus gryphe!_" The fire seemed to shoot not only from his wand but from his entire arm. Instead of engulfing the Death Eater the flames formed a tight, thin line, severing the head of the Death Eater.

Harry turned back to Tonks, never noticing that the severed head rolled a few meters, finally striking a piece of debris that loosened the Death Eater mask from the head of Severus Snape.

-ooo-

Andromeda Tonks lay crumpled beside her husband. She knew her legs were broken, she had felt them give way when she hit the wall. Through the intense pain she thrust a shaking hand towards her husband, hoping against hope, and felt herself shiver as she felt his chest rise and fall.

Somehow, somehow a distant memory surfaced, a memory of her father sitting in his office, standing in front of the desk with her sisters beside her. He held out three silver necklaces, each with a small decorative circle. Boys, he had said, would try to have their way with them as they were all growing into young women. The necklaces were portkeys to safe locations, each a different location, an old practice from when other houses would attempt to kidnap members of Ancient and Noble Houses for gain.

Now, her world falling apart, Nymphadora over against the wall with Harry, both of them covered in odd flames, she made a terrible decision. Her husband or her daughter. Hoping against hope she wrapped an arm around her husband as best she could and touched the silver pendant, praying to the old goddess that even after all these years, even after she had been cast out of the Black family, that the portkey would still hold the magic.

-ooo-

Tonks shook her head and tried to make what was happening in front of her real, but part of her couldn't. The Auror part of her brain wanted to take charge, but she couldn't move. She looked over to where her parents had been and didn't see anything, but in the periphery of her vision she found them, against the wall, her mum's legs pointing in a direction that no legs should point.

And then they disappeared. Her parents were gone! It was at that point that the shock gave way to the Auror. "MUM! DAD!" She extricated herself from Harry, kicking away, and when she did so he turned to look at her and she paused, ignoring the screams and the spellfire and the Death Eaters fighting with Aurors. Harry's eyes were filled with a firey glow, the same glow that seemed to cover him and...and her. "HARRY!"

He turned to look at her, wand in hand, and it was at that moment that Voldemort arrived.

-ooo-

The Dark King Apparated into the middle of the Wizangamot chamber, death and destruction all around him, the screams a balm to his fractured soul. It had all gone to plan, every single part. The Wizangamot would be no more, Dumbledore was gone, death and destruction would reign. HE would reign.

He walked over to the spot where the Chief Warlock's podium once stood, stepping through blood and on body parts, heedless of the impact on his bare feet, laughing. The charred, broken body of Dumbledore lay in front of him. The old fool had even tried to use his wand, but now what remained in his hand was as equally charred as the deluded wizard's flesh. He slid his wand from his robe and levitated the corpse of Dumbledore into the air, floating it to the center of the ruined Wizangamot chamber.

"Here is your leader, the mighty Dumbledore." He let the corpse fall to the ground, causing it to split apart and fall mostly to ash. "Who will protect you now? Ah. Yes. _Lord_ Potter." He turned, surveying the survivors and finally found him with that girl, causing him to smile. "Ah, Lord Potter, you still live. For now." He pointed his wand at Harry. "Swear allegiance to your new king, King Voldemort!"

Instead of bowing, and accepting the inevitable, the damned girl they called Lady Black stood up, grabbed Potter and twirled, Apparating away.

At that moment Voldemort's euphoria at destroying the Ministry vanished. With a scream the wand began to sow even more death and destruction, not concerned about the few unlucky Death Eaters who happened to be in the way. Then, his momentary anger abated, Voldemort surveyed the destruction and smiled. Without the Wizangamot the Ministry was helpless. Only one task remained. Leaving Bellatrix to finish off any survivors he left the chamber, a visit to the Minister of Magic the next item on his deadly agenda.

_10:30 am Unknown Location_

Harry turned to Tonks, his eyes still fiery. "What did you do that for?"

"Harry!" Tonks shook her head. "We had to get out of there. Lesson number one from Moody."

"Lesson number one?" It came out almost as a scream. "What the fuck is lesson number one?

"Survive." She looked around the clearing, taking in the trees, looking for any signs of movement. "We should be ok here for a bit but we need to get moving."

"Tonks!" Harry grabbed her arm. "Where the hell are we?"

She smacked his hand off her arm. "Where are we? Safe. Safe, that's what. What were you going to do, take on Voldemort with Death Eaters there in force and the whole place gone to hell? He fucking blew the place up! Dumbledore's gone! The Ministry's gone! It's all gone!"

Harry stood there for a moment and then the fire drained from his eyes. Almost as soon as the fire was gone his legs buckled and he sank down to his knees in the grass.

"Harry?" Tonks knelt down to him, realising that she was in quite some pain from her left side. "What's going on? What's with the fire, your fire? What the hell is that?"

"I don't know. I think it's something from my ancestors." He looked up at her in confusion. "We should be dead."

"We're not, though, and we need to regroup." Tonks felt the pain begin to increase, as if she could taste her pulse. "We need to find someone to heal us." She paused for a second. "I hope like hell he's home, because I don't think I can Apparate again."

"Ok." Harry's head began to wobble and he pitched forward, face-first into her shoulder.

"Fucking hell! Harry!" Getting no response Tonks pulled him up as best she could, ignoring the growing pain and concentrated as hard as possible on her destination.

They landed in a heap not too far from the door. The sound immediately brought the occupant of the small, dilapidated house into the overgrown garden. "Tonks! Harry!" Remus Lupin ran forward. "What happened?"

Tonks looked up at him. "Death Eaters, Wizangamot. Voldemort says he's a king now. Ministry's fallen." She coughed once and winced. "We need help."

_2:00 pm Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office_

Minerva McGonagall sat in Albus' office, weeping. The parchment from the owl had arrived earlier bearing news that could scarce be believed. The Ministry was destroyed, the Wizangamot massacred, untold Muggles along with witches and wizards killed. More than that, Albus Dumbledore was gone.

Filius Flitwick stood next to her, a bottle of firewhiskey in his hand. "Minerva?"

"No." She waved him off and wiped her eyes. "No, Filius. Not now, but definitely later. I'm afraid I must set the wards. The final ward."

"Are you sure?" Flitwick took a deep breath. "You know what that will mean. Hogwarts will become impregnable, yes, but we will be cut off from everything. No owls, no Floo..."

"No Death Eaters, Filius. We have to protect the children. Albus always..." She sniffed. "Albus always said that Hogwarts was the safest place in the world, and I believe it is time to test his theory." She turned to the portraits. "Do you agree?"

Each and every former Headmaster of Hogwarts was awake and alert in their portrait frames. Each and every former Headmaster of Hogwarts nodded.

"So be it." Filius nodded reluctantly. "So be it."

Minerva walked over to the portrait of Armando Dippett and tapped the portrait frame, swinging the frame aside like a door to reveal a recessed area that held a single lever. Not pausing in the slightest she reached forward and pulled the lever.

Filius watched as the walls seemed to pulse momentarily and then a sound like the largest bell in the world rang out, echoing through the castle. He knew that they would have to address the students, but to tell them that Voldemort had destroyed the Ministry and crowned himself king? He didn't envy Minerva's position as Deputy Headmistress in the slightest.

_11:50 pm Mersea Island, Essex_

Kingsley Shacklebolt walked into the kitchen of his house, now the temporary home of the remains of the Ministry. Amelia Bones, still in her bloody and charred robes, sat without her monocle looking through parchment. He went to the cooker, pulled off the tea kettle and poured himself a cup of tea then sat across the table from Amelia.

"What do we know?"

She pushed the parchment away from her angrily and stared at the Auror. "I don't know how we'll carry on, Kingsley. I don't know."

"What do we know, Amelia?" His tone was forceful, on purpose, to shake her out of her hopelessness and into some sort of normalcy. She wasn't the head of the DMLE for nothing, and he knew what she was normally like, even in stressful situations. She was still in shock, even if she didn't want to admit it.

With a sigh she took up the parchment. "Dumbledore, dead. Minister of Magic? Dead. Scrimgeour? Dead. Most of the Wizangamot, dead." She picked up the quill and began making tick marks next to names. "Augusta Longbottom, dead. Arthur Weasley, dead. Delores Umbridge, dead. Lord Greengrass, dead. Lord Upton, dead. Lord Wilkinshire, dead." She sat down the quill and stared at Shacklebolt. "To be quite blunt, love, it's easier to tell you who's alive or missing at this point."

Kingsley sat back and sipped his tea quietly. He'd never known Amelia to be this way, but the events of the day were unlike anything he'd ever known. He pondered whether to tell her but knew that he'd have to tell her eventually. "Amelia...they destroyed your house. This morning, before the Ministry. Muggles thought it was a fire. If you hadn't been with me you'd be on that list. But you're not. We're not. You know who isn't on that list? Harry Potter. Nymphadora Tonks. They're still alive, and so are we." He reached over and took her hand, giving her a small start and forcing her to look at him. "Amelia, love, I had to go tell Molly Weasley and her family that Arthur's gone. I don't want to think what would have happened if I hadn't found her, Ginny and the Granger girl outside the Ministry. She's shattered, but she's holding on because her son Ron is missing, she's hoping he's with Harry somehow. We have to go on. We will go on. I will not let an evil thing like...V, Voldemort, I will not let him crown himself king without a fight."

"Well said." The gruff voice from the doorway startled both of them, causing Kingsley to let go of Amelia's hand and the two of them to sit back in their seats. Moody shook his head and sat down in a chair with a thump, his peg tapping against the leg of the chair. "We're not giving up. Potter's alive." He tossed a piece of parchment onto the table. "He and Tonks are at Lupin's, both of 'em in bad shape, but they're alive. If they're alive, we've got a chance. They can't do it alone, though." He turned to Kingsley. "You tell your girlfriend about our little club yet?"

Amelia blushed for just an instant and then the stern head of the DMLE returned. "Yes, Alastor, he has. He told me about your Order of the Phoenix. I take it you have a plan, then?"

"Plan?" Moody banged his fist on the table. "I plan to eviscerate every damn Death Eater I can and find something worse for the _Dark King_. King, my arse." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment, smoothing it out roughly with the side of a hand. "But we're not alone. The oldest Weasley boy, Bill, he works with the goblins. They've sent him word that they'll help us."

"Lord Weasley." Kingsley nodded solemnly. "He's Lord Weasley, now. Arthur's dead. I should speak to him."

Kingsley rose to get up out of his seat but Moody stuck out an arm and kept him from rising. "Not now, Shack. Boy's fiancée, the French girl from the tournament? She was at the Ministry. She didn't make it. Give him some time."

"Time." Kingsley closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm not sure how much time we have."

"None of us do." Moody reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a half-full bottle of firewhiskey. "None of us do. But tomorrow the sun will come up and we do what we can, and you can bet your arse we'll do something. Dunno what that is yet, but we'll come up with something."

_**A/N: So, that took a bit of a turn, didn't it? One reviewer mentioned that I had initially categorized this story as Romance/Humor, and that there was very little humor so far in the piece. Reading back over the previous chapters I had to agree, so I changed this to be Romance/Adventure.**_

_**Poor Arthur Weasley. I love Arthur, he's one of my favorite characters in the whole series, but when I realized he would be at the Wizangamot, proudly sitting as Lord Weasley, there wasn't anything to be done. As for Snape? I enjoyed the hell out of that. No Elder Wand anymore, either, so the Hallows are out. Where do we go from here? And what about Ron and the Muggle girl in the car? I have plans. **_

_**Thanks for reading and reviewing. As before, I may not respond to all the reviews but I definitely read them.**_


	9. Magia Magnum Concordant

**Chapter 9: Magia Magnum Concordant**

The deep vaults of the archives under the Ministry of Magic were voluminous, known fully to only a handful of individuals. Archways with pitch-black passageways led off this way and that, to all first-time viewers they were seemingly unending tunnels towards the centre of the earth. Most tunnels and chambers of the archives, during the last few years, were silent and unmoving, little used, but the main records chamber for the Ministry held some areas more frequented than others. The specific area where the wizard stood was, like almost all of the archive chambers, filled with books. The majority of the massive quantity of tomes were silent and increasingly dust-covered but one area, though, was not inactive; besides the presence of an actual wizard, a living, human, non-ghostly entity, besides that presence the large books of the main chamber were being updated with an alarming frequency. Pages zoomed from one book to another, replicated the information, and then returned to it's source book.

The Unspeakable was not surprised that the books were updating themselves; that happened all the time, especially in the more recent archives. The Unspeakable was surprised, however, that these specific books were updating, the books that held the genesis of Wizangamot, the magical form of government and the very, very old and ancient histories of the noble houses. As another slight tremor passed through the chamber the old Unspeakable couldn't contain his curiosity.

Curiosity is a main tenet of being an Unspeakable, and Saul Croaker had curiosity in spades. It allowed him to raise to the position of elder Unspeakable, working on his own regarding theories and ideas without much oversight, one of the reasons that he was in the Ancient Records chamber that day. He was positive that there was a direct line of Merlin somewhere in the deep archives, in those musty and fragile scrolls of parchment, that the generally accepted history that Merlin had remained childless was actually a smokescreen to protect the Merlin progeny. Unfortunately he was proven incorrect, as there was no Merlin line, but his curiosity did serve him well as he was now a witness to the busiest time in the history of the Ministry regarding the Ancient and Noble Houses. Oh, how they would pay to see this memory in a pensieve!

As a page fluttered through the air and went towards a book he watched as the book opened, the pages flipped and then the new page was assimilated into the back of the book, the tome turning a bright blue for a second as the magic confirmed the entry and then the large, leather cover slammed shut. He slipped on his reading glasses and walked over to the book, confused. The Unspeakable tapped the cover of the book with his wand, granting him access, and then turned towards the last few pages, stopping at the next-to-last page with a slight gasp.

**Lord Edmund Charles Bedivere Greengrass, deceased. **

_Lord Greengrass was dead? _Croaker involuntarily glanced up at the ceiling of the chamber, as many, many floors above him the Wizangamot chamber was located, and everyone knew that a Wizangamot session had been called to invest Lady Black and Lord Potter with their Wizangamot robes and seats. Lord Greengrass was not that old of a man, a comparative schoolboy compared to the old Unspeakable, so the idea of him having a heart attack and dying of shock when Lady Black or Lord Potter took their place was highly unlikely.

Another tremor shook the ground under Croaker's feet, rendering him slightly unsteady for a few moments, but he quickly regained balance as the floor calmed. He turned back to the book and turned the page, noting the new, crisp parchment and ink that was not quite dry. "Curious." He said it aloud, as it was quite a surprise. It was not unusual for the head of house to skip a generation or two, owing to primogeniture or a line squibbing out, but this was highly unusual, as it seemed that the Greengrass line had skipped many lines, resulting in the new head of House Greengrass being the son of a Muggle milkman. He glanced up again towards the ceiling; what in Merlin's name had gone on so that the head of house passed to a Muggleborn wizard still at Hogwarts named Colin Creevey?

It was while in contemplation about the ramifications for the Wizangamot of the Creevey boy being named Lord Greengrass that he saw the motion out of his peripheral vision, a slight red glow on the far wall. Leaving the book of Greengrass he turned and saw a large, dusty framed parchment break away from the wall and begin to float towards him. Odd things happened all the time in the Department of Mysteries, so while other witches and wizards may have started at the sight of a floating framed piece of parchment Croaker remained motionless for a moment but then, almost as a reflex, let his wand slip into his hand at the ready.

"Merlin!"

This time his outburst echoed through the chamber, sounding through the tunnels. He recognised the framed parchment, one of few who would these days, as only historians cared for such remnants; these days even those with long memories had forgotten the beginnings but many more, if not almost all, had forgotten the underpinnings of their very society. But it could not be denied; there, floating towards him, unmistakable even under the heavy layers of dust, was the Magia Magnum Concordant. With shaking hands he reached out for the frame, fingers shaking not only in anticipation but owing to the fact that he knew this document was absolutely priceless, an artifact of utmost importance. When it met his flesh he grasped it as slightly as possible to prevent dropping it as he did not want to damage the document in the least. If he had known that he would be handling such delicate documents he would have cast one of the prevention spells all archivists knew by heart but there was no time.

He stood there, the framed document in his grasp, and after a deep breath blew away the dust, leaving the old writing. He couldn't help looking down at the section that was glowing, the very letters bright red against the pale parchment, all other text as normal as other ancient parchment. Again, he could not contain himself, and read out loud.

"Si aliquis conatur vi assumere diadema antiqua foedera vocabitur . Consilio et imperio reformabit habebit. Cor! Someone is trying to forge a throne...oh no."

Croaker felt his stomach fall away. If the section of the document that laid out a provision for the noble houses to resume their council and take the place of the government to throw down an usurper had been highlighted it could only mean one thing. The Wizangamot had fallen.

-ooo-

Ron Weasley watched in horror as the little car he was currently riding in sped through the streets of London, the girl driving it grim-faced and manic while the baby in the weird seat in the back screamed its head off. Everything was wrong. The light even seemed wrong, the way it came through the windows in spurts, blocked out by buildings one moment and then trees and other cars. The buildings sped by, but other cars were much closer than he had ever imagined, almost right on top of him, and that made him nervously grip a handle in the car. Finally, as he was almost at the point of trying to do something to get out of there, the girl turned in front of a house so fast that he almost hit his head on the windscreen. He looked over to her but she didn't look at him, instead she was focused directly ahead, not paying any attention to the screaming baby behind him. He waited for a moment and then, not knowing what else to do, he tapped her on the arm, causing her to scream and jump in her seat.

"What the bloody hell happened back there?" She finally turned to him and he saw her eyes were wide with fear. "What was that? What...what are you? You...you killed a man with a stick!"

As sirens echoed faintly in the background Ron looked at her, but the only thing firmly in the forefront of his brain was the sound of the baby in the back of the car, still screaming as loudly as possible. He motioned towards the baby. "How about..."

"LEAVE EMILY ALONE! DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!"

Ron held up his hands, showing they were empty, and slowly edged away from the girl until his back hit the door. "Don't worry, don't worry, but if you wanna keep her safe we need to get someplace..." he glanced through the windows of the car, noting how traffic seemed to be flowing around them without paying attention, but the Death Eaters were still out there. They were sitting targets. "...we need to get inside, someplace. Out of here. I'll tell you...I'll explain, ok? Can we do that? Is that your house?"

"I'm not telling you anything." The girl took the keys out of the car, palming them, but forcing the end of one key through her fingers so it stuck up like a spike. "I'll..."

"Do you want that lot in the black robes to show up? We're not safe out here." Ron pleaded with her, wanting nothing more than to get out of the car. Somewhere, in the small part of his brain that he usually just followed, he was being told _just get out of there. Open the door and leave. _But he knew that the Death Eaters had seen him get in the car. He was sure of it, even if he really didn't have any proof. Without really thinking he blurted out "They saw your car."

The girl stared at him, hand still upraised with the key prominently displayed, but then she started to shake, shivering as if it was the deepest, coldest part of winter. She let her hand fall down to her lap and then turned towards the squalling infant. "Shhhh, it's ok, Emmy. It's ok. Mummy will make it better."

Ron watched as the girl unlatched the thing across her shoulder and lap and then hurriedly got out of the car, opened the back door and took out the still screaming baby. Not knowing what else to do he got out of the car as well and shut the door, his new, blue House Weasley robe flapping around him with the slight wind. For a moment they just stood there, on opposite sides of the car, him with his wand burning a hole in his pocket, telling him to do something to get out of the situation, and his complete lack of education regarding Apparition, not to mention Obliviation, seemed to overwhelm him. She, on the other hand, stood swaying from side to side, trying to quiet and comfort the baby. A siren swelled from a few streets away, growing louder, and that broke the argument the girl was having with herself.

"Come on, get in, you can't stand out there looking like...that."

With a glance around to see if there was any sign that they'd been followed he hurried to catch up with her and then stood at the doorstep after she'd opened the door. It just didn't seem right to go barging in there...and then he heard her calling for someone named Jack. _Great..._ Ron thought, ._..her husband or boyfriend is gonna come in here and beat the shite out of me for putting her and Emily in trouble...I don't even know her name._

The girl came back, this time without the baby, and reached out and pulled him inside, shutting the door with a bang. As she locked the door she stood in front of him, this time brandishing a rather large kitchen knife. "Ok, I want answers!" She turned back to the other room and yelled "Jack, get out here!"

Ron waited, not sure whether to get ready to fight or run, but those thoughts seemed to just evaporate when Jack walked into the room. Jack was a female, about his age or maybe a little older if he had to guess, straight brown hair in a short haircut that reminded him of some of the more annoying blokes at Hogwarts who like to grow their fringe out long and do that 'sweeping the hair back' bit that girls swooned over and made most of the guys want to vomit. The thing that got him, though, were her eyes. Big, brown, expressive eyes that looked him over from top to bottom with a look of disdain.

Before Ron could say something Jack turned to the other girl. "So this is better'n what you usually drag home, Crystal." She turned back to Ron. "So, nice robe. What are you, a priest or something? That would be better than Emmy's dad, for sure."

Ron watched as Crystal, the girl with the baby whose car he'd ridden in, began going back and forth with Jack. He stood there as Crystal began to explain what happened, that masked guys in black robes had shown up and started killing people and exploding cars with little sticks, that she and little Emmy were right in the line of fire until 'that bloke' showed up and took out a stick and killed one of them and made her drive away. The entire time Ron listened he couldn't look at either of the girls; instead he stared at his shoes. New shoes for the occasion, proper shoes, his mum called them, not the trainers he assured her would be fine. When she told him that his father was Lord Weasley now and he had to act as the son of a Wizangamot member Ron couldn't help but chuckle, as he was not Lord material whatsoever.

"Something funny, Red?" Jack stood in front of him, hands firmly on her hips, displaying the fact that her t-shirt didn't quite go all the way to the top of her jeans. "So what's the deal? You a big terrorist? You with the IRA? Irish?"

"What? No." Ron shook his head. "I live near Devon."

Jack took a step closer to him, giving Ron a small start as she was a tall girl, at least as tall as Angelina Johnson. "So what the bloody hell are we gonna do with you? Call 999 and tie you up until they get here?"

"Jack!" Crystal came around the corner, without the knife, instead holding her baby. "The police are useless against the ones in the masks. He saved me and Emmy. We'd be dead if it wasn't for him."

Jack thought for a minute. "So what next?"

"The car." Ron jerked his head towards the window. "If they saw the car, recognised it..."

"Shit, shit, shit." Jack started pacing. "Perfect time for Mum and Dad to go on holiday to Spain. Perfect. Perfect." She sighed, closed her eyes and tilted her head back for a moment. Then, a decision made, she turned to her sister. "Crys, pack a back for you and Emmy. I'm taking you to Aunt Phillipa's flat. Don't argue, please. You." She turned to Ron. "You're coming with us. After we drop Crys and Emmy off we're going to go for a ride and you're going to tell me everything. First thing, though, you need to take that blue dressing gown off. Hope you're not starkers under there."

"Oh, nah." Ron peeled off the robe to reveal the best clothes he'd ever owned, a pair of charcoal grey trousers, a white shirt, his Gryffindor tie and a Muggle suit jacket his mum had insisted upon that morning. "How's that?"

"You look like you're trying to sell insurance, but you'll do." Jack turned to her sister. "We're out of her in ten minutes." After watching her sister leave the room she turned to Ron. "So you can really protect us? What the hell is this, really? Are you a spy or something?"

"Um..." Ron panicked. "More like the or something part. I can't say. Really."

"Later, you're telling me everything later. Now let's get the hell out of here before the terrorists or whatever find the car."

-ooo-

Tonks took a deep breath, stretched, and swung a foot over the edge of the bed, her feet coming into contact with the bare hardwood floor. It was the sensation of the floor, without a rug or carpet hitting her feet, that brought her back to reality. A reality she really didn't want to face, if the truth be told. She knew she would face it, as she had to, but part of her just wished that it had all been a horrible dream, that all she had to face was the Wizangamot and her betrothal to Harry becoming public knowledge. Instead, she knew it was much worse. Exactly how much worse, that was the part that made her stomach turn into knots.

She took another deep breath and looked towards the window; the morning sun was shining in brightly, an affront to her mood. She had lied to herself earlier, thinking that she knew how much worse things were, as there was still so much she didn't know. Especially regarding her parents. That thought made her hurry and get ready, she'd obviously slept in her clothing from the day before, so there wasn't much to do except rub the sleep out of her eyes and hurry through Remus' little place to the kitchen, where she could hear clinking tea cups.

As she made it to the doorway she stared at Harry and Remus, both of them looking as if they hadn't slept at all, Harry staring intently at his cup as if wishing it to change the world. Remus sat shuffling through parchment. Neither of them heard her enter the kitchen. She cleared her throat. "Any tea?"

Harry seemed to jump three feet straight in the air whilst still seated but Remus acknowledged her with a nod. "There is, but before you get a cuppa you should know your parents are safe."

Tonks' muscles eased as she felt her shoulders relax. "Oh thank Merlin! What do you know?" She hurried over, pulled out a chair and sat across from the Harry and Remus. "Did they send something?"

"Not exactly." Remus shuffled through the parchment and handed her a piece. "It came from Amelia Bones."

"Madame Bones?" Tonks took the parchment from him and began reading it as fast as she could. Her parents were safe, on an unplottable, tiny island off the coast of Ireland. They were frantically worried about their daughter, and Andromeda only hoped that one day she would be able to tell her daughter why she had made the decision she did when she portkeyed away with her husband. With a somewhat lighter heart she looked over to Remus, hoping for more good news. She didn't get any, not really.

"Ministry's fallen." Harry's tone was flat and unemotional. "Death Eaters have taken it over. Hogwarts did something and now it's..."

"Impenetrable." Remus sat back in his chair and crossed his legs. "It's the final ward, I always believed it was a myth, but apparently not. Nothing goes in or out, no owls, no portkeys, Floo's disconnected, nothing. Harry tried to use one of the Potter house elves to get a message to McGonagall and the poor little thing almost wore herself out trying to deliver that letter. They're safe from Voldemort and the Death Eaters, but I'm not sure how long they'll be able to sustain being in seige mode."

She sat there as Harry poured her a cup of tea and added milk and a bit of sugar. She stirred the tea absentmindedly, almost on autopilot, trying to make sense of it all. Everything that she knew was wrong. The institutions that were the bedrock of wizarding society were in flux. The Ministry was effectively gone, Hogwarts was shut up tighter than a drum, Dumbledore was gone, most of the Wizangamot was probably dead...she snapped her head up suddenly. "What about the Order?"

"Ah." Remus nodded. "Amelia and Kingsley are running it. For all intents and purposes the Order is the Ministry at this point. We have no government, and what little government we do have is at Kingsley's house." His expression grew very sad. "And there are funerals to attend. Molly is insisting that we give Arthur a proper burial. Hermione wants to find out about her father, we would go look for her mother but we just can't risk it right now."

"Poor girl. Poor everyone." Tonks took a sip of tea and studied Harry. She'd seen him only so often, but that thing with the goblins gave her an insight into one Harry James Potter, and the fact that he was rather quiet didn't fool her. "What are you planning, Harry?"

"Harry?" Remus straightened up, causing the chair legs to screech slightly on the wooden floor. "What does she mean? I thought we decided you'd stay here for a few days until it's safe to go to Kingsley's house."

"No." Harry shook his head. "You mentioned it, but I didn't agree. And Tonks..." he stared at her, taking in her deep blue hair and lavender coloured eyes. "I don't know exactly what I'm planning but Ron's not accounted for...they're only keeping Molly together with potions and by making her concentrate on Arthur and Bill, not to mention Hermione."

"What's wrong with Bill?" She leaned over the table and sat down her cup rather carelessly. "He's a hell of a wizard."

"Fleur. The Beauxbatons champion from the tournament?" Harry's voice was quivering slightly. "They were engaged. She didn't make it."

"Bloody hell." Tonks ran a hand through her hair and then snapped her fingers. "Molly's clock!"

"Gone." Harry shook his head solemnly. One of his favourite places in the world no longer existed. "Death Eaters destroyed the whole house. The Burrow's gone, Tonks." He stood up suddenly and began pacing around Remus' little kitchen. "The Burrow's gone, Arthur's dead, Fleur's dead, Percy's missing, I guess, and Ron's out there somewhere. I couldn't stop what happened at the Ministry but I can find Ron."

"No you don't!" Remus was on his feet. "You, specifically, are not to leave this house until we get word from Amelia or Kingsley or Moody."

"No!" Harry shook his head vigorously. "Don't you get it, Remus? The rules don't apply anymore! There's no Ministry to set rules! There's no fucking Wizangamot because Voldemort blew it up! We're not staying here, why would we stay here when I have the lodge? We can go there, even if I don't have a damn portkey." He stopped and went to the window, throwing off the latch and pushing out the old windows which protested by squeeking horribly. "KIPSEY! KIPSEY I NEED YOU!"

With a crack the small house elf arrived on top of the kitchen table, initially facing Tonks. Seeing Tonks the little elf threw herself in her arms, causing Tonks to catch her and hold her like a small child. When Tonks finally got the elf to calm slightly Kipsey saw Harry and then went over to him faster than any bludger coming out of a case before a Quidditch match, hugging Harry as tightly as she could.

"Kipsey's master and mistress being safe! They being safe!"

Harry sat down on a chair and held Kipsey in his lap, her goggling eyes full of tears. He put a finger under her chin and brought her face up to meet his. "Kipsey, I need to find a friend. Ron Weasley. Do the Weasley's have any house elves?"

The elf shook her head. "Kipsey is not knowing if the Weasleys have house elves. I know there were some elves at the lodge who are of age to be needing families and they hoped to serve, but nothing has being done."

"Damn." Harry smacked the back of his head on the chair. "There goes that idea."

"Kipsey knows a way, she does." Her voice was timid. "If you's write a letter to him I can take it to him. I's can also take you with me."

"No. Absolutely not." Remus shook his head and pointed a finger at Harry. "You can't go."

Harry looked over to Tonks who simply raised an eyebrow, but then lifted up her hand to move back her hair, displaying the ring of House Black rather prominently. With a quick nod in her direction Harry slid the house elf off of his lap and went over to the table, searching through the parchment for a spare piece. Finding none he tore the bottom off of a letter which had only taken the top portion of the page. Dipping a quill into an inkpot he began writing. After a deep, sad breath, he glanced up to Remus and turned back to the parchment. "Remus, you have no authority to keep me here. Wait, that's not it. You don't have the authority to keep Lord Potter here."

Remus opened his mouth to say something but stopped, closed his eyes, and after a long pause simply nodded. "You're right, Harry. You're right." He turned to Tonks. "Nymphadora, you're going with him."

"Of course I am." She gave him a look of disbelief.

As Harry and Tonks began to prepare for what might be another encounter with Death Eaters Remus sat at his kitchen table, wondering if the world would continue to spiral even further out of control. It was at that point that an owl appeared at his window, an owl bearing a letter from Gringotts, unbelievably. Unbelievable because he didn't have enough gold in his vault to merit a letter like most witches and wizards, but even more unbelievable because the letter was the first contact anyone had had from the goblins since the attack on the Ministry. He let in the owl, gave it a meager treat, which after all the earlier owls wasn't much, and took the envelope. There was no name on the outside to indicate who the letter was for, so Remus slid a finger under the flap and opened it. Two separate envelopes were contained inside, one for Lord Potter and the other for Lady Black. He handed the Lord and Lady their letters and stood back, curious.

It didn't take long for his curiosity to be satisfied; the goblins, along with the Department of Mysteries, were calling a council meeting of all the Ancient and Noble Houses. Those who could attend were required to use the enclosed portkey (a small, unobtrusive Gringotts valut key) within the next two hours.

"Two hours." Harry put the key in his pocket. "We've got two hours, Tonks. Ready?"

"Constant vigilance." She nodded. "Get your letter for Ron and let's do this."

Harry picked up the letter, handed it to Kipsey, and once the little elf had placed the letter in her Potter Lodge uniform she reached out to hold Harry and Tonks' hands. Almost as soon as the hands touched the little elf popped them away, leaving Remus in his kitchen wondering what, exactly, he should do. Failing to come up with an answer to any of his real issues he took out his wand and began cleaning the kitchen.

-ooo-

The little hatchback sat in a rather grimy part of the city, in Ron's opinion. He was glad he had his wand with him as, well, if there was ever a part of a Muggle city that felt like Knockturn Alley, this was it. Loud music he'd never heard in his life bounced off all the tall buildings, cars went this way and that, groups of men stood on street corners talking and smoking...it just felt bad. Like they shouldn't be there. He elbowed Jack slightly as they walked towards a busy street. "Is there any way out of her faster than walking?"

"Hey, leave off. We parked it there for a reason, right? Somebody's bound to steal it as sure as shit. You said it could be traced, and if somebody's tracking the car I sure as shit don't want to be in it when they find it. That'd be bad, right?"

"Yeah, really bad."

"Shit." Jack said it under her breath. "Keep walking and don't look across the street. Here." She slid her arm into his and leaned closer towards him. "Not so fast, normal." She glanced up at him and squeezed his arm tightly. "I _said_ don't look!"

It was too late. Five men, two wearing hoodies, walked towards them, making their way across the street.

Jack chanced another look and saw something silver and shiny in the hand of one of the men. "Fuckin' hell, he's got a knife." She looked over to Ron. "You got your stick?"

"Yeah, I got my wand. I don't know if I can use it, though."

"Crystal said you used it when you saved her, can't you do the same for her big sister?"

"OI THERE, LOVE!" One of the men was getting closer. "Ditch the ginger and come have a party with us."

Jack took a couple more steps and then felt her arm jerked back suddenly, but to her surprise it wasn't the men, it was Ron. He stood there with his little stick in the other hand and an angry look on his face.

"She's with me, bugger off you lot." He pulled Jack closer to him, tightly linking their arms. As Jack made gasping noises Ron stood there and counted. Five on one. Not the best odds, not by a long shot. The entire time that he'd been walking with Jack after the five idiots had shown up he'd been running it over and over in his mind. If the Ministry was gone, blown up actually, then all the whatevers they used for the trace were probably blown up as well. It had to be the truth as they hadn't come after him for that _Bombarda_ spell. Jack had been good enough to him that she hadn't called the Muggle Aurors on him, but she didn't trust him enough to just let him leave, so in the Gryffindor part of Ron Weasley's soul he knew what he had to do. "Bugger off."

One of the hoodie wearing thugs smiled. "Now, lookee here, lads, we got us a real goody boy, don't we? Hey Reg, you got anything to show goody boys?" The one man held up the knife so all could see. "See that there, ginger? That says she's coming with us."

Ron shook his head. "Like hell." He pointed the wand at the man with the silver knife and cast the first spell he could think of. _"Wingardium Leviosa!"_

The man with the knife, at first, just gave Ron an odd look. But then, after what seemed like an eternity to Ron, the man began to float high into the air, as high as some of the lower buildings.

It was at that exact moment that a sharp crack startled everyone, a sharp crack that deposited a small house elf along with Harry Potter and Nymphadora Tonks between Ron and the men he was pointing his wand towards in definite anger.

"Harry!" Ron's voice was full of relief. "You're alive!"

"And we're getting out of here." Tonks pulled out a thin strand of rope and wrapped it around herself, Harry, Ron and some strange girl that Ron wouldn't let go of and seemed to have been protecting. "Now, Kipsey!"

The little house elf grabbed the rope with one hand and snapped her fingers with the other, her destination of Potter Lodge firmly etched in her mind. The street reverberated with the crack of the house elf's Apparition, leaving four street-wise petty criminals with shocked expressions of disbelief. The fifth man was still floating, three blocks away.

As soon as they landed in the great room at the lodge Ron wanted to say something to Harry but everybody's attention was focused on Jack, who simply screamed for a split second. After returning slightly to her senses she looked around the great room, not believing her eyes. Finally, though, she went over to Ron and tapped him on the chest. "I think you owe me a really, really fucking big explanation. WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?"

"Lord Potter." The creaking old voice of the Potter elf Verbel was what Jack received for an answer; thankfully the shock of seeing the wizened elf kept her quiet. "Lord Potter, you need to wear full regalia for the meeting at Gringotts."

"Full regalia?" Harry looked over to Tonks, who shrugged. He turned back to the elf. "Sure, Verbel, that's fine. Um, can you have one of the elves help Ron, I mean, Mr. Weasley?"

Verbel nodded. "I will ask Kruner to assist the Earl of Weasley and..." He looked at Jack, obviously anticipating that she would follow his lead. Finally, not being able to take it, Verbel's eyes pleaded with Tonks.

"Ah. Right." Tonks leaned over to Jack and whispered "He's waiting for you to tell him your name."

"Oh." Jack shrugged. "Sure. Jacqueline Ann Wilson. But I go by Jack."

Verbel nodded for a moment. "Very well, if the Earl of Weasley and Ms. Jacqueline of Wilson will follow me. Lord Potter, your things are being in the master bedroom where your valet will assist." He turned to Tonks. "Lady Black, we have a large selection of your things but your formal robes are in the blue bedroom on the second floor, east wing. We has being in contact with Kreacher who let us go and choose the best things. The portkeys will be active in thirty minutes. Chop chop!" As Lady Black and Lord Potter left the old elf turned to the two people remaining in the room. "Now, if you would follow me we will see you are settled in."

-ooo-

Effie paced in her office at Gringotts. The news had been bad, worse than they had ever expected, but now there was a chance, a chance that goblin nation had been seeking for centuries. It almost seemed crass to profit off of the severe loss of the magical humans, but now they had a common goal, a goal that would take the combined efforts of all on the side of right to achieve.

It had been during the darkest part of a very depressing meeting with the directors when they received a message from one of the goblins down on sanitation punishment; the drain under the dragon had been moved aside and a rather bedraggled, old and quite smelly wizard had climbed out of the drain tunnel. After quite happily surrendering his wand the wizard, an Unspeakable named Saul Croaker, told them that they were at the cusp of a new age, an age where goblin and witch and wizard would walk hand in hand. Splitgnarl thought the man had been doused in dragon urine one too many times and it had pickled his brain, but the goblins latched onto the idea like a life preserver thrown in the middle of an ocean.

Twenty minutes later, after many freshening spells and a fourth recitation of exactly what had happened underneath the Ministry in the archives, and what that meant for everyone, it was decided that Gringotts would hold the council. Announcements were drafted and sent out, but sadly many owls came back with the letters still attached, the script black, not the Gringotts gold, and with a red line magically drawn through the name. Croaker had confirmed their suspicions when he saw how many names were no longer viable as members of the council.

Then, right on time, they started arriving, popping in with surprising coordination, almost as if every single member had gripped the key at the same time. Effie walked over to Harry and gave him a demure nod. "Lord Potter, we are sorry for the loss of so many."

"Thanks, Effie. Me too, especially Fleur. Do you know what happened?"

She nodded quickly but calmed him with a hand gesture. "Later, later. I will tell you later, now we have very important business to attend."

The director of Gringotts stood up, banged a staff on the floor and caused the echo that reverberated through the hallway to make sure he had everyone's undivided attention. "If you will follow me to the boardroom, please."

Harry walked a few steps and was quickly joined by Tonks. "I'm glad to see you. Thought you were going to miss it." He slid his hand into hers as they walked. "Any idea?"

"Nope." She kept walking, amused that he had taken her hand. At first she thought about giving him stick, telling him that they weren't married yet, but if she was honest with herself she actually didn't mind it whatsoever. It was rotten timing, the rottenest of all, not to mention the fact that Sirius and James threw them together due to that drunken contract, but she rather liked Harry. She also liked the fact that she could make him blush very easily. Those thoughts were dashed from her mind, though, as they entered the Gringotts boardroom. She quickly took a seat next to Harry and started looking around to see who else was in on this thing.

Harry felt his heart rise as he had felt Tonks take his hand, and it was thinking only of her that he entered the boardroom. Now, now that they had to break apart and be at separate chairs he took a look around the room to see who else was there. Amelia Bones. Neville's grandmother Augusta Longbottom. A wizard he didn't recognize immediately but thought he might have been in the Wizangamot the day it blew up. There were two witches on the other side of the room, along with another wizard he definitely hadn't seen before.

"Ahem." The Director stood on a chair and looked out to the assembled witches and wizards. "This meeting has been called at this location as it is currently one of the safest buildings in all of Britain. To explain why you are here may I introduce Mr. Saul Croaker, Unspeakable."

Harry couldn't believe it, Unspeakables never did stuff like this and they never, ever, ever told anyone their name. For an Unspeakable to do that it must be really big. It was. Harry had to keep pinching himself on the leg to make sure he was awake, not dreaming, and what they were talking about was going to happen. Finally, it was over, he'd been given some piece of parchment to sign and had done so, affixing the Potter griffon to the seal next to his name. He slid out of his seat and walked over to Tonks.

"Are...are they serious?"

She shook her head. "No, but I could use a word with him about right now. Harry, this is old, really, really old. We're on the High Council. We're the bloody government."

Harry ran a hand through his hair. "I thought just being Lord Potter was going to be bad enough, but first Voldemort and now this?"

"Hey!" Tonks elbowed him. "Aren't you forgetting about something?"

"Oh! Yeah, right us getting married. Ummm-hmm...but think about it, we've got a real chance to get rid of him for good and the goblins are going to help!"

Tonks looked over and saw one of the goblins talking about something with old Augusta Longbottom and Croaker. "Yeah, may Merlin help us. What's that saying, you can't un-ring a bell? We're going to ring a big bell, Harry. A big one. I don't know what that means, but I'm pretty sure V...V...Riddle." She stopped, took a deep breath and composed herself. "I'm pretty sure Tom isn't going to take this well. So we'll have to be ready, won't we?"

"Fine." Harry nodded. "I'll be ready. I don't care if I'm Lord Potter or just Harry, we will get rid of Voldemort once and for all."

"Spoken like a true member of the Noble Council that runs Britain, Harry." Tonks nodded but looked out across the room at those assembled. With trepidation she looked at her copy of the Magia Magnum Concordant. Tom Riddle may have thought he won when he took over the Ministry, but all he did was force an even older form of government back into place. When the evil wanker found out his victory was a hollow win, though, she decided she definitely didn't want to be around.

_**A/N: The chapter that came before this one is as dark as this story gets, I promise. Hoo-boy, some people were not pleased with Chapter 8, let me tell you. I'm not sure what the biggest thing was, the fact that Voldemort came back and started taking over the Ministry, I killed off Fleur, I killed off Dumbledore or I didn't kill off (insert character name here.) I've gone to moderating Guest reviews now, so that's something. **_

_**For those who didn't like the rather dark turn this story took in the last chapter may I suggest the Professor Muggle series? There's lots of fluffiness in there along with a good bit of swearing. The James Potter story (A Beater's Life) is also pretty fluffy and funny.**_

_**The key to this story is the Magia Magnum Concordant, sort of the wizarding Magna Carta. You'll see how it shapes things soon enough. Also, this chapter was a bear to write. Between snowstorms, power going out several times, losing most if not all of the Croaker in the Ministry archives section three times...yeah. Glad to see this chapter finished.**_

_**Don't worry, though. There will be a wedding. Or two. Maybe more. Muwhahahaha.**_

_**Read and enjoy, review if you wish. Thanks for reading.**_


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